Tidal mills were used extensively in the South Carolina tidewater
in the late 18th and early 20th century until at least partially
replaced with steam mills.  Rather than erecting a dam across the
stream, the rice fields after harvest were used as mill ponds,
filled when the tide comes in, and then released at low tide to
power the mills.


William B. Lees, Ph.D., RPA
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CULTURAL RESOURCE ANALYSTS, INC.
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-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of George Myers
Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2004 6:28 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Tidal Mills

Thiis page has an interesting description:

The Medieval Technology Pages

http://scholar.chem.nyu.edu/tekpages/tidalmills.html

Found by Google. Now if I could just find more about the once
summer residents of Long Island, NY out in Setauket "MacIntyre
and Heath" my grandmother knew, I might understand the reference
to their "The Ham Tree" skit over at Saint Pierre Farms in
Vermont
http://www.vtmaplesyrups.com/culture)

George Myers


On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 18:35:02 +1000, Iain Stuart
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I recall some Irish archaeologists gave a paper on Tidal mills
at the SHA Conference at Quebec. It was notable for its stunning
photographs and the delicate way they described how they inserted
the smallest member of their team into the cut-stone tidal race
to clean it out.
>
> Iain Stuart
>
> [log in to unmask]