Mill Pond and Saw Mill South Hope
(Probably Halver Hart's mill)
(Ronald Bennett Collection)

The following was copied from an email written
by Donovan Bowley on December13, 2011

After things were cleared away, I went to some archival information Gwen and I encountered last
week just as we were finishing up our workday at the HHS House. The particular item was a 1 January
1941 letter written by my great grandfather, Westbra B. Bowley to a "Miss Robbins" in response
to a request for information on Hope History. The letter serves to verify what I thought was the case
when you first asked me about Photo 948 on www.HopeHist.com - the millpond shown is indeed
the Bowley Millpond, later the site of the Halver Hart mill.

W.B. Bowley, quoting the letter, says, "The Fishes were among the first settlers at S. Hope and built
a mill whare [sic.] the wagon factory was. Ephraim & George Bowley later [built] a mill whare [sic.]
Halver Hart's mill now is."

The building in the picture is the Hart Mill. Halver Hart's mill was a bit of a hybrid. At the old Bowley
millpond and dam, a new mill foundation was constructed and on it, according to Anna Hardy, Charles
Fish set the former second story of the South Hope Manufacturing Company building (the "wagon factory")
as the new mill, and also set a new millwheel.

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