this one happened to survive in south waterford, maine, because it was in the middle of nowhere. the people lived across the street so it wasn't vandalized. the machines were fairly low impact. with maintenance, not too much maintenance, you can keep them going. the family that owned this mill was running it commercially, part time, now and then, into the 1950s. at that point, most villages and other museums, entered into negotiations to procure the mill. we moved it here in 1963. when the founders of the museum were looking for a place to build their recreated new england village, they realized they could move barnes and black smith shops and houses down to any piece of land. they learned all the communities had water-powered saw mills and brisk mills and fulling mills. for that you not only need water, but water that can be dammed and dropped to generate energy. the family that found a museum lived in the next town. they knew that there had been mills here in their boyhoods even though they are long gone in the 1930s when they bought the property for this reason. they called it