Hanford Mills Museum

Hanford Hills Museum an Honest Review

This is an honest review of Hanford Hills Museum by The Adventure Travelers.com

The Hanford Mills Museum is located in East Meredith, New York. The museum operates an authentic water-and steam-powered historic site on its 70 acres. The mission of the Hanford Mills Museum is to inspire audiences of all ages to explore connections among energy, technology, natural resources, and entrepreneurship in rural communities, with a focus on sustainable choices.

We found this location by using Harvest Hosts which is a membership for RV owners that allows you to stay free in locations such as wineries, museums and farms. For a very low price of $44 a year, you have access to over 500 locations throughout the United States and Canada. You simply call 24 hours ahead and let them know you're coming. The small exchange of purchasing either an admission ticket or a bottle of wine or whatever it is that the location is offering. In our opinion it's a very small price to pay for something that gets you out into the community and helps make memories. So for example, if you pull up to a museum, you may buy a few admission tickets but that is very cheap for a safe nights stay in your RV.

The Hanford Mills Museum was an incredible find for us. The location where our RV was parked was even more beautiful than any national or state park. The parking area that's designated for RVs was flat and fenced off. Using Harvest Hosts can potentially save you thousands of dollars while on the road.

The Hanford Mills Museum was truly a step back in time and the first sawmill was built in 1846 by Jonathan B. Parris. The Mill changed hands several times before David Josiah Hanford bought it in 1860. D.J. and his sons Horace and Herbert Willis expanded the mill complex and added new processes and machines. In 1945 mill employees Frank, Mike, and Joe pizza bought the mill from Horace and ran it until the mid-1960s. When the business closed, local resident Ken Kelso bought much of the property and machinery. He started a museum that eventually became Hanford Mills Museum.

The admission price was only seven dollars (with an AAA discount) and was well worth the over-an-hour tour. The caring staff and volunteers have lovingly restored all of the sawmill equipment and maintain it throughout the year. They even collaborate with local non-profits to help make wood products. The staff are incredibly knowledgeable and dedicated to this living Museum. The guide actually showed how the sawmill made some of the old products like butter tub covers, milk crates and even house shingles. Every year in February, the community comes out for the ice-house celebration. They literally carve out blocks of ice from the local Mill Pond and put it in its resting home in the ice-house. They surround it with the sawmill's sawdust and wait for it to be available during the hot summer months. This ice house provided needed ice for the surrounding community before the age of the modern refrigerator.

The Adventure Travelers.com give the Hanford Mills Museum, a Harvest Hosts location, an Honest and solid thumbs up.

Want to go on an adventure? Rent an RV here:
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Please watch: NROCKS Outdoor Adventures an Honest Review

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Implementing Your CAP Recommendations: How Museums for America Can Help

In this recording of an October 2017 webinar for participants of the Collections Assessment for Preservation (CAP) program, Connie Bodner (Institute of Museum and Library Services) discusses how the Museums for America grant can fund them implementation of recommendations from a CAP report.