Ruins of the Upper Mill on Leicester River in Addison County, Vermont near Salisbury. Industrial mill activity during the 1800's in Salisbury went from iron mills during the Civil War to pulp mills to woolen mills and even explosive powder mills making dynamite after the war. Mill activity ended in 1915 when water rights were purchased by a power company and an electricity generation plant was installed.
In 2004, a land conservation trust purchased the land. Over the last 100 years, the land has reverted to undisturbed forest and will now be preserved in its current state. The land trust is also developing some trails and historical markers.
A local retired wooden furniture maker has been donating his time and building some nice walkways and bridges. Together with lots of voluteers during the summer.
The trail runs through mixed forest and I know from personal experience its a decent area to forage mushrooms.
A wood pile from some of the clearing work along the trail. With a nice coating of snow 🙂
Of course the mills require a mill pond. The pond is still in use feeding the power plant.
Here's the water fall over the dam. If you look closely you can also see the black water pipe or penstock coming out of the cement part of the dam on the right. The penstock feeds the power plant downstream in Salisbury.
The historical markers have not yet been completed but they have started labeling the trails with these cool trail markers. Once the snow melts and some of the historical displays are completed, I will do another post with more of the history. For now I hope you enjoyed the snowy photos 👍
