Riders Mills Historic District

Riders Mills is a small hamlet in the Town of Chatham, Columbia County, New York, set along Kinderhook Creek where water power once drove several mills. Eseck Mosher developed the early dam and mills in the late eighteenth century, and Jonathan Rider bought land there in 1802 and expanded the operations. The Rider family dominated the community until 1948. The mills, including saw, grist, fulling and carding operations, were swept away in a flood in 1869 and were not rebuilt, and the hamlet turned to farming. What remains is a group of houses in late Colonial, Greek Revival and Italianate styles, a brick one-room schoolhouse, a former saloon, a blacksmith's site, and many nineteenth century barns. Eight archeological sites, including mill foundations, a stone quarry and a covered bridge abutment, add to the district. It is recognized for its milling history, its intact nineteenth century architecture and its archeological potential.