The Cotton Factory

When NEMO moved last fall from Nashua, NH to Dover, NH, we wanted to make sure the building we moved into had as much charm and New England character as our last place, minus the cramped space and lack of climate control.

We were lucky to find the Cocheco Falls Millsworks, which anchors the town center of Dover. This building once housed the Dover Cotton Factory from 1812-1821, and there are still remnants of the prior building occupants artfully scattered around. According to the wonderful powers of the Internets, the waterfalls at the head of the Cochecho River helped power the mills in Dover. In 1829, the Dover Manufacturing Company purchased the Dover Cotton Factory, and the mills continued spinning and weaving textiles until the Great Depression.

You never know where parts of this amazing mill building might show up. Artist Jason Polan included an old wooden vice from the old cotton factory in his Sunday NYTimes series, "Things I Saw".