History of "The Old Waterwheel" and "Old Home Crawford"
Topic: Historical Tidbits
I recently received an email from a good friend of mine, John Amey, who offered some interesting historical tidbits about the little mill which had become the subject of my most recent painting, "The Old Waterwheel". John recognized the mill, and wrote to tell me about "Old Home Crawford", a working farm in Guildhall, VT, once owned by Frederick C. Crawford. I found his email letter quite intriguing, and thought perhaps others would too. So, with his permission, I'd like to share some of it with you.

Hi Brenda;
I love your painting of the water wheel at what was for many years the working vacation home for fairly famous entrepreneur, Frederick Crawford. While I do not remember when the mill was built or ever have the pleasure of meeting Mr. Crawford, I do remember my father telling me that he established a working farm, a much improved version than what he spent his childhood at and it became a second home from his industrial career in Cleveland, Ohio. As one drives up that road, {in Guildhall, but known as the Granby Road], one can still see much of what was a massive and previously well kept estate. To the right and on a hill before the main farm buildings, was a large meeting hall with a huge stone fireplace and that was sometimes where the Board of Directors met of his company, TRW. They built hydraulic motors and Mr. Crawford had a significant roll in the development garage doors that roll up and flex in so doing. Not to be confused with electric openers but simply the flexible doors.
To his credit, Mr. Crawford thought farming was an important enterprise and he made sure that his resident managers and workers had the homes and facilities they needed to carry on the dairy operation and the maple business and care for the long spans of wooden fences and many acres of land. Unfortunately, Mr Crawford got old and the dairy economy began to fail..... I believe he died at age 100. There was an auction a few years ago....and the barns and workshops and garages were emptied of tools, including antiques. It was a sad demise to what had for many years been a showplace. The land was somewhat subdivided but luckily into larger parcels.... A major portion of the 1500 acres is permanently protected by the Vermont Land Trust. A couple of local farmers bought the tillable acreage and grow corn and hay there.
So my friend, this is some of the rest of the story behind the 'Waterwheel'. From what I have learned of Mr. Crawford's life, he would be proud to have a painting done. It is a famous landmark and any gift shop in New England would likely have a postcard of it but no one has an original painting better than yours."

Being a person who loves investigating a mystery of history, I decided I would do a little additional research, and I found some interesting facts about Fred C. Crawford and his family, mostly to do with his work in the aeronomics and automotive industries. Pictures and information about his industrial life in Cleveland, Ohio, can be found here...The Story of Frederick C. Crawford I think you'll find he was indeed a remarkable man.

His father, Fred E. Crawford, was a lawyer, and his mother, Mattie Coolidge Crawford, was an artist!

Of course, THAT particular fact sent me excitedly searching on a whole new quest for any record of her work. I wasn't able to find a lot about her art career online, but I did find some items of interest, and plan to post some of the information in ArtRECreation, under the heading of "Historical Tidbits". This will probably be a continuing project, with information posted as I'm able to do further research. From what I have already read about Mrs. Crawford, she was, in her own right, quite remarkable.

The most exciting news about my quest so far, is that I have come across two books written by Fred E. Crawford. The first, titled "The Life and Times of Oramel Crawford", a Vermont Farmer, 1809-1888, is written about his father, and was privately printed in 1952. The second, titled "Your Grandmother: A Memoir of Mattie Coolidge Crawford", is about his wife, the artist, and was privately printed in 1945. This book was dedicated to his first great-grandchild, David Coolidge Crawford, Jr., and includes pictures of Mattie, her family, and several of her beautifully rendered watercolor paintings. Both of the books are biographical, and tell of the family and their life in Vermont, and in Watertown, MA, etc. I've only just begun to skim through them, but am quite anxious to read more, and I hope, as I post what information I find, you'll enjoy reading some the "Historical Tidbits" about the Crawford family, as much as I have.

I thank my friend, John, for sharing his recollections of the farm and the mill. And invite others to contribute their knowledge to this interesting piece of our north country history. If anyone knows more about the mill or when it was constructed, I would love to hear from you.