and the Mill Hollow Heritage Association

Since 1767 there has been a water-powered mill at the mouth of Lake Warren in Alstead, NH. Over the years these mills provided lumber for building, grain for food, and economic opportunity through manufacturing. Today, Chase’s Mill is one of only nine operable water-powered mills left in New Hampshire.

Under the stewardship of the nonprofit Mill Hollow Heritage Association, Chase’s Mill serves as a workshop for hands-on learning and a community gathering space. Our water-powered mill embodies the history of small-town industry, celebrating New England’s vibrant past while inspiring the future of sustainable power and rural technology.

Friday evening events at Chase's Mill begin at 7:00pm

There was a typo in our mailed flyer and Friday evening events are listed incorrectly as starting at 7:30. The correct start time for all Friday evening events is 7pm. Please contact us at hello@chasesmill.org or 603-835-2280 for further information. 

Reproductive Rights in America & the Women Who Led the First Charge

Friday, August 1, 2025, 7:00 PM 8:30 PM

With: Stephanie Gorton and Sharon Spaulding
Event Fee: by donation
Event Size: 50 / family friendly

In the early 1900s two women battled for leadership of the emerging reproductive rights movement: Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett. In her new book, The Icon and the Idealist, Stephanie Gorton deftly recreates the world in which each woman struggled to bring the topic of sex out from the shadows of Victorian morality shift cultural norms, and pass legislation to provide access to contraceptive information. With Dennett's ties to Mill Hollow, and women's rights under attack today, this will be a lively discussion of Gorton's book.

Stephanie Gorton is the author of The Icon and the Idealist: Margaret Sanger, Mary Ware Dennett, and the Rivalry that Brought Birth Control to America (2024), a finalist for the Plutarch Award for biography, and Citizen Reporters: S. S. McClure, Ida Tarbell, and the Magazine that Rewrote America (2020), a finalist for the Sperber Prize for journalism biography. Lebanese American by birth, she lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

Sharon Spaulding curates the Mary Ware Dennett family archive and is at work on a novel about her life. Her essays about Dennett have been published in Smithsonian, Ms., and New Hampshire magazines. Sharon also publishes a newsletter, Women Make History: Stories we should have learned in school about mostly forgotten women who have achieved remarkable things. When not in Alstead during the summers, she lives outside Salt Lake City with her husband, Carl, and their dog, Hank.

 
 

scholarships available

Tuition scholarships are available for all classes and workshops at Chase's Mill.  Click here to learn more and apply.

 

Photo by Jonathan Botkin

 

Open Shop hours

Chase's Mill is very excited to provide open shop hours for the community.
There is no charge for using the shop or tools; participants supply their own raw materials.

If you have attended a wood shop class with us or have attended a Safely Using Hand and Power Tools session, you may drop in to use our tools during open shop time. 

While Chase’s Mill maintains hand and power tools from the 19th century for education and demonstration, we also have everything you would hope to find in a 21st century woodworking shop.

A shop steward or woodworking mentor is available during each open shop time to provide guidance, help with tools, and maintain our safety policies. Feeling shy about working on a self-directed project or rusty about your skills? Come in and make a simple project like a cutting board or a plant stand to get warmed up.

Youth ages 9+ are welcome to use hand tools during open shop, with an accompanying adult and after either completing a woodworking class at Chase's Mill or attending a session of Safely Using Power and Hand Tools.  

Contact Jill Hall jhall@millhollowheritageassociation.org with questions.

 
 
 
 

MONADTALKS WITH LUCA PARIS. Chase’S Mill. WKBK. 5.16.24

In May, Bob Brown spoke with Luca Paris, CEO of Greater Monadnock Collaborative, on his MonadTalk podcast. You’ll be amazed at how much history – Chase's Mill, Mill Hollow, New Hampshire, New England, the arc of human progress – Bob can cover in under 25 minutes. Listen here.

 
 

N.H. Preservation Alliance 2022 Preservation Achievement Award Winner:
Mill Hollow Heritage Association

The N.H. Preservation Alliance is pleased to announce our 2022 Preservation Achievement Award winner, the Mill Hollow Heritage Association, for the revitalization and rehabilitation of Chase’s Mill in Alstead. Click here to read more.

 
 

In 2009, the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance named Chase’s Mill to its “Seven to Save List.” The Preservation Alliance’s endangered properties list aims to draw attention and resources to irreplaceable New Hampshire landmarks. Listing provides a range of technical and financial support and helps attract roll-up-your-sleeves help for local advocates and their preservation projects. In October 2019, the Preservation Alliance filmed several Seven to Save champions, including MHHA board members Bob Brown and Helen Frink, about their projects, all at various stages of completion. Check it out!