by Bud Warren

When Samuel F. Manning died on July 9th in Camden, Maine, the tide mill world lost a close friend. I’d known him since the mid 1970’s when we began sharing our love of dories, a boat type I was using in a school program in Bath. I was in awe of his knowledge and the gentle way he passed on information and supported me as I grew in the love of the Maine coast and its history. By the time we met, he was gaining fame as a proponent of using tidal power, writing about our state’s early tide mills and illustrating them with phenomenal images of how they operated and had been constructed. We were blessed at one of our recent conferences in York when he illustrated his approach.

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Robert Gordon and Patrick Malone have just published a thoroughly researched and annotated paper, “‘Perpetual power’ from the Tides in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 1813–1858.” Both authors are long-time Tide Mill Institute supporters and advisors and have spoken about Boston tide mills at past TMI conferences.

According to its abstract, the 27-page paper describes how engineers “overcame daunting technological challenges” to harness the tides in Boston from 1822 to 1858, providing “continuous, uniform tidal power to Boston industries.” This energy-producing system operated like a modern utility by selling this energy to industrial customers. Inventors and artisans, too, took advantage of this energy source, and roads built on the dams around the tidal basins became important transportation links.

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Tide Mill Institute’s fifteenth conference has been scheduled for Kittery, Maine, on Friday and Saturday October 25th and 26th – SAVE THESE DATES!

Reports about tide mills from Kittery to Seabrook (N.H.), Boston and Europe will be offered by scholars and amateurs, and a research study exploring the Gulf of Maine’s currents for creating sustainable energy will be shared. Participants will tour Kittery, Portsmouth and Newcastle tide mill sites by bus.

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The Middlesex Canal Association of North Billerica, Mass., has published an in-depth paper about Boston area tide mills in its long-running periodical, Towpath Topics. The paper, by Tide Mill Institute founder and Dorchester Historical Society president Earl Taylor, describes tide mill sites from Revere to Quincy, Mass., including Boston. The paper also places the tide mills in historical context and discusses why use of tide power faded away. Link to paper in Towpath Topics.

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by Earl Taylor

An elaborate tide mill project was proposed for East Boston in the 1830s, although it appears the idea never came to anything. An 1834 plan shows a proposed tide mill site near today’s Central Square, a tide mill dam closing off a large basin on the east side of the town, and a wide canal running between the basin and the tide mill site.

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Historic Boston tide mills are on the program for History Camp Boston 2019 being held at Suffolk University Law School on Saturday, March 16. At the day-long event, professional and amateur history enthusiasts from a variety of fields can see a presentation by Earl Taylor, one of the founders of the Tide Mill Institute and president of the Dorchester Historical Society. Taylor will describe the tide mills that once stood by the waterways of Boston Harbor.

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