Mill Talk: 29 Mill Villages - and More

Presented by Steve Dunwell
Ashton, Forestdale, Peacedale, Cabotville, Hopedale, Uxbridge, Millville and Slatersville, of course. Along our New England rivers there are more than a hundred small factory villages. Following familiar patterns, they are each unique and fitted to their location. Skipping the big ones (Lowell, Amoskeag, Biddeford), this is the story of the little ones - often isolated in a rural setting, now partially digested into suburban sprawl.

Origins, utopian dreams, hard-luck realities and decay are all part of the story. Waltham started this way, as did nearby Dedham, both on the Charles River.

Author and Photographer Steve Dunwell has been to most of them and tells us about his favorites, with surprising insights.

Author bio:

STEVE DUNWELL makes photographs of New England – its architecture, landscape, and industry – for publications, for collectors, and for advertising. He has published 17 photo books, and manages Back Bay Press.

Textile industry history has always been a primary interest, starting with an intensive documentary immersion in the world of New England mills in the 1970s. That work was published as “The Run of the Mill’ in 1978. He has kept up that interest, photographing around and inside various mills in our region. One part of that work features portraits of mill workers, entitled “With These Hands,” shown recently at the Museum of Work and Culture, Woonsocket, RI, and at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation, in 2018.

Steve lives in Boston.

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Host or Publisher Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation