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Since 1857, Granville Manufacturing Company, known as "The Bowl Mill" has been producing unique
one piece
hardwood bowls and quartersawn clapboard siding , utilizing the modern
technology and machinery of the 19th century. The processes developed
and improved here, maximize the raw material's utility, beauty, and
strength while minimizing and recycling the waste.
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Vermont has been blessed with a rejuvenated forest of hardwoods over the
last century. On mountains of once cleared forests, the hard rock farms
supported the original settlers of Vermont. With the opening of lands
in the middle and western regions of America, many Vermonters left their
homes to seek more fertile land for cultivation. The decline in
population led to the regrowth of forests on the Green Mountains, from
80% farmland in 1860 to 80% forest in 1960. These forests of hardwood
and softwood led to the development of the lumber industry now an
essential component of the Vermont economy.
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Many Vermont Lumber Companies produced Wooden Bowls and Clapboard Siding
utilizing Vermont Timber, selling their products around the New England
Region. Over the years these producers of Bowls and Boards have
disappeared from the landscape of Vermont, while the Granville Mill
quietly continued the tradition of ingenuity and perseverance in the
face of economic cyclicality, floods and fires.
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| The Mill still contains
the original machinery designed in the late 1800's, now run by
electricity instead of water power. The Branch of the White River that
runs past the Mill was the original source of power for the Mill. A Dam
upstream from the Mill used to run through sluices into a turbine that
powered the Mill machinery that was contained within a single three
story Mill.
In 1927, Vermont suffered from a devastating flood that washed away the
Granville Dam and most Bridges in the White River Valleys of Vermont.
The Mill survived, however the water power was replaced by electricity
and the Zenas King bridge was restored to its original foundation, the
only source of access to the Mill from Granville Corners.
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In the 140 year span of operation only four families have owned and
operated the Mills. These were the Hemenway, Rice, Howlett, and Fuller
families. The continuity of operation over the years has been in large
part due to the skills of employees, who passed down their knowledge to
various generations of their families, many of whom currently work at
the Mill.
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