Historic Mills of the Trap Pond Area

Historic Mills of the Trap Pond Area. . , From Ironworks to Gristmills , Many of the ponds in this area, including Trap Pond, were created in the late 1700s. The earliest dams were built to produce waterpower for ironworks. The waterpower ran bellows for furnaces that created iron from "bog ore" found in the swamps. Blacksmiths forged this iron into tools and other useful things., By the 1800s, agriculture and timber cutting replaced the ironworks. The iron mills were converted to grind grain and saw lumber. As demand for grain and lumber grew more sawmills and gristmills were built and more ponds created. At the start of the 20th century, the old forests in this area were almost used up and farmers turned from producing grain crops to growing fruit and vegetables. With nothing to grind or saw, the mills began to close., The mill at Trap Pond, built around 1790, shut down in 1920. In 1933, a flood washed out this dam as well as several others in the area. A few years later, a group from the Civilian Conservation Corps rebuilt the dam and made other changes to convert the land into a recreational area now known as Trap Pond State Park., Other Mill Sites of the Area: , ❶ Big Mills , Located on Little Creek Between Laurel and Portsville, this lumber mill employed ten men and produced 5,000 feet of lumber a day. It was later converted into a crate and basket factory and a tannery., ❷ Horsey's Pond , Located near the town limits of Laurel, its gristmill closed in 1920. This was also a crate and basket factory that utilized the trimmings from lumber mills. The Fish and Wildlife Commission maintains a boat ramp on the site., ❸ Laurel Flour Mills , Built before 1790, this mill located on Records Pond was once owned by Nathaniel Mitchell, one of Delaware's first governors. By the late 1800s, it was the largest mill complex in the state. The mill was destroyed by fire in the 1960s, ❹ Chipman Mill , This site, on Chipman Pond near Laurel, consisted of two mill buildings. The type of operation could change seasonally, acting as a sawmill, a gristmill, or a carding mill as needed. It operated until 1948., ❺ Old Forge , This site had a forge, and later a sawmill and gristmill, plus several house. It was a thriving village, possibly one of the earliest town sites of this area. Forge Pond, which no longer exists, supplied the power for these mills. Bits of slag, left over from iron production, can still be found here., ❻ Trossum Pond , With its stand of baldcypress trees, this is one of the most picturesque ponds in this country. The pond supported a sawmill and a gristmill during the colonial period and later., ❼ Raccoon Pond , This pond, formerly called Davis Pond, supplied the power to a gristmill and a sawmill located to the southeast and adjacent to Trap Pond.