104 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



William Perm in 1699 for fifteen shillings. We shall 

 soon see that the mineral wealth which "Mill Grove" 

 was supposed to hide beneath its rugged slopes was a 

 source of no little trouble to the Audubons, the Roziers, 

 and their successors for many a year. 



At the foot of the declivity towards the west, half 

 hidden by foliage, stood a picturesque stone mill, at a 

 point where a solid rampart had been thrown across the 

 stream to divert its power to the use of man. Hard by 

 was the miller's house, which antedates the mansion, 

 and which was built and first occupied by James Mor- 

 gan, who came into possession of the property in 1749. 

 It was this old mill site, originally distinct from the 

 farm, that gave the name to the place. Behind the 

 gristmill an extensive sawmill, built over the mill race, 

 was also in operation. Today the dam is broken 

 through, and the great mill wheel of wood and iron, 

 twelve feet in diameter and fifteen feet wide, has come 

 to rest after turning for more than a century. 



Like the mill, the original house on the hilltop was 

 built of rough-hewn native stone, which is brown or 

 red and very hard. It consists of two stories, with cen- 

 tral hall, and a curiously divided attic with dormer win- 

 dows, which Audubon is said to have converted into a 

 museum. A marble slab in the south gable bears the 

 date of 1762; an addition of the same rough stone was 

 built on the north side, but at a considerably lower level, 

 in 1763, and the commemorative tablet in this instance 

 bears the initials "J. M.," proving that the construction 

 of the buildings of "Mill Grove" was due to the old 

 miller, James Morgan. The interior, with its odd chim- 

 ley-corner, low ceilings, bold fireplace and hand-wrought 

 iron-work, bears witness to a time when honest, substan- 

 tial construction and pride in workmanship received the 



