Perkins Tide Mill
The Perkins Tide Mill was one of the last surviving 18th-century tide mills in the United States. Located on Mill Lane in Kennebunkport, Maine, it was built in 1749 and operated until 1939. It was destroyed by an arsonist in 1994. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, the property's present owners, the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust, are contemplating construction of a replica. Description and history The Perkins Tide Mill was located on the north side of Kennebunkport village, on the northeast shore of Mill Stream, a tidal arm of the Kennebunk River. Its main building was an L-shaped wood-frame structure, set on wooden pilings and a rubblestone foundation. It had a cross-gabled roof, and was finished in wooden shingles. The mill interior housed a wide variety of equipment related to the history of its operation as a grist mill, including a waterwheel, grindstones, and gears and shafts. A dam, still partially in evidence, extended across Mill Stream, with a sluiceway near the building. The mill was built in 1749, and was successively adapted to new technologies until 1939, when it ceased operations. Its original grindstone was imported from England, and the dam was originally granite with pine