The Tide Mill Institute has launched its tide mill database, available to the public on line at tidemillinstitute.org. Currently, the database includes locations and detailed data for more than 600 tide mill sites in North America, Western Europe and Australia.
The database is easy to browse, with most sites indicated by markers on a Google map of the world. As with other Google maps, the viewer can zoom in and out and choose a map or a satellite view. Clicking a site marker displays available text information, photos and links to documents and related external materials. Sites can also be searched by name in a tabular view. [Watch introductory video on YouTube]
The information in the database will be valuable to researchers and those curious about tide mill locations and history near them or in other locations around the world.
TMI volunteer and leadership board member Bob Gray of Kittery, Maine, donated many months of his time and expertise for developing the software, structure and interface for the new database. He also gathered and organized data from several sources, including a partially developed database started by Tide Mill Institute several years ago.
Despite Bob’s extraordinary effort, the database as it stands today is only a beginning, and it will always be a work in progress. TMI is accepting tide mill information from mill enthusiasts, scholars, mill historians, local historians, both professional and amateur. If you have tide mill data to contribute, please send email to portal@tidemillinstitute.org.
Also needed is information about people and events related to specific tide mills. These database features are still under development and will require considerably more effort for data-entry. Anyone willing to volunteer a few hours to help is urged to contact Tide Mill Institute at info@tidemillinstitute.org.
The new database is accessible from the home page of TideMillInstitute.org. The direct link is TideMillInstitute.org/Portal.
Acknowledgements
TMI is grateful to these contributors:
- Ewan Sonnic and David Plunkett, authors of “An Inventory of Tide Mills in Brittany, France.”
- David Allen for his numerous bits of information and personal photos of tide mills in England.
- Mary Mills for her paper “The East Greenwich Tide Mill” and other information about English tide mills.
- Greg Jackson for information on and photos of the two tide mills on the Hawkesbury River in Australia.
- Earl Taylor for being an early adopter of the Portal, and entering data on mills from Massachusetts to New Jersey.
- Tide Mill Institute members and board for their work developing a spreadsheet of existing tide mill data that formed the base of the current Portal.
Please do not trespass to visit tide mill sites. Many are on private property or can be reached only by crossing private property. Be respectful of owners’ property and privacy rights, and always obtain permission before entering private land.
