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Historic Newmarket Mills
Photo courtesy of
J. Dennis Robinson.
In the 1600s, this place on the Lamprey Reiver was little more than a sawmill outpost, like Exeter and Durham, York, Bewick and Dover. When the Newmarket Manufacturing Company arrived in 1822, the Newmarket we know began to take shape. At one time, there were more looms in a gigantic factory there than anywhere on earth. There was child labor too, and hard times, and young women drawn from rural life to a wholly new America. It was no picnic in the best of times. Then one day in the 1930s, 1,500 jobs were lost in a town of 3,000 souls. The millworkers stood up for their rights and the owners shut the town down. Today the sturdy mill buildings, some quarried from nearby granite, are undergoing a rebirth as riverview condominiums and affordable office space. Historic tours are sometimes available and the town holds an annual Heritage Festival (see listing) each fall.
WEBSITE: http://www.newmarket-nh.com/
ADMISSION: Free to see
ADDRESS: Off Maine Street, Route 108 Newmarket, NH 03802
DIRECTIONS: Newmarket is located directly on Route 108 7 miles from Exeter at one end and Durham, NH on the other. The road runs through the center of town where the mills are visible.
LINKS:
Newmarket Historical Society,
Heritage Festival,
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