Two men on a mill : $b The story of the restoration of Baxter's Mill — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Two men on a mill : $b The story of the restoration of Baxter's Mill
John Stuart Mill · en
Or perhaps it was enthusiasm of Margaret Perkins. Maggie, as we
affectionally call her, spent long hours in tedious searching of the
records at the Deed Registry, Town Clerk’s office, Proprietor’s Records
of the Town of Yarmouth, and interviewing everyone she could think of
who might know something of the history of the old mill. Maggie was the
motivating force in presenting an article at our Town Meeting about
a year ago, requesting the Town to purchase the mill or take it by
so-called eminent domain proceedings, so that it might be preserved and
restored, but the townspeople were not eager to invest in the past.
Strange how so many people insist upon their rights and forget their
obligations. Strange again, how so many people are looking for
something without giving part of themselves.
Whatever it was, or however it arose, I found myself engulfed in the
middle of hard but fascinating work.
Having lived for thirty-five years close by the old Baxter Mill in West
Yarmouth, it is not surprising that my curiosity and interest were
aroused. Somehow, I felt called upon to restore this old mill, perhaps
to keep a way of life now forgotten in our present civilization,
perhaps merely as a means of self-expression.
A clipping from the Yarmouth Register, November of 1935, speaks for
itself of the lethargy of present day thought, when the old Farris Mill
that stood for many years at the corner of Berry Avenue and Main Street
in West Yarmouth was purchased by Henry Ford and moved to Dearborn,
Michigan, despite violent protest. The clipping reads as follows:
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO--_From the files of the Register--November,
1935_.
It is reported that the oldest windmill on Cape Cod is to be moved
from West Yarmouth. The West Yarmouth Association is attempting
to obtain the sentiments of Cape Cod residents, both permanent
and seasonal, on the rumored removal of one of the Cape’s most
picturesque objects of great historical value to the Cape--the
old windmill in West Yarmouth. Mrs. George Breed of Englewood and
Germantown has wired Mr Ford, the new owner, direct, expressing
her individual feelings in the matter, and the West Yarmouth
Improvement Society has done the same.
We quote from a letter also dispatched, “If the windmill is to be
retained by you upon its present location, we are delighted, but if
it is to be removed it is a calamity.” “It may be well to explain
that there is no record in the offices of the Town of Yarmouth
whereby any offer was ever made and presented to the voters that
the windmill was to be a gift or offered to be purchased; thus the
townspeople have never been allowed to express their opinion on
this matter, nor have they been allowed to visit and inspect the
mill. The door is always locked.”