{"nrhp_refnum":"84002303","name":"Old Mill","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Edgartown-West Tisbury Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"West Tisbury","county":"Dukes County","state":"MA","lat":41.38206201650004,"lon":-70.67170315168819,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-03-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small 2½-story frame mill building with brick lower walls on the Edgartown-West Tisbury Road in West Tisbury, Massachusetts, built around 1848 on a site used for milling since about 1650. The nominated area covers roughly 26 acres.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is the oldest surviving industrial building in the community and a well-preserved example of its type. Its site is tied to West Tisbury's development from the 17th century onward, including woolen cloth production linked to the island's whaling economy and ownership by Captain Thomas Bradley. The surrounding land may also yield prehistoric and historic archaeological information.","narrative":"Set into a south-facing slope beside the Edgartown-West Tisbury Road, this small mill was built around 1848 by retired whaling captain Thomas Bradley on a site used for milling since about 1650. The 2½-story frame building rests on brick and rubblestone foundations, with a 1½-story ell, simple wood trim and 6/6 windows. From 1809 the mill wove satinet, a dense woolen cloth favored for seamen's clothing, and its decline in the 1870s paralleled the fall of whaling. Machinery was sold for junk in 1879. Later uses included a tea room, sandwich shop, art gallery and auction house before the Martha's Vineyard Garden Club rented it in 1937 and bought it in 1942. It is considered the oldest surviving industrial building in the community and a well-preserved example of plain 19th-century industrial design. The surrounding land may also hold prehistoric and early industrial remains, since several prehistoric sites lie nearby.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Unknown","architectural_style":"19th century vernacular industrial design","criteria":["A","B","C","D"],"status_note":"Listed in excellent condition and occupied; used for meetings by its owner, a garden club, which has held it since 1942.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.238167-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/88/7945/63794588/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/84002303.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002303/05f9746dea-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002303/05f9746dea-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Mill,_West_Tisbury_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Mill,_West_Tisbury_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794588","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Mill_(West_Tisbury,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7084520"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/dukes-county/old-mill-84002303/"}