PHOTOGRAPHY
Historic Watermills of North America A Visual Preservation Ken Boyd 112 full-color artistic photographs of watermills still standing on the North American landscape
NOVEMBER 12 X 10 / 264 PAGES / 151 COLOR FIGURES / 1 MAP ISBN 978-0-8173-2015-7 / $39.95t CLOTH ISBN 978-0-8173-9254-3 / $39.95 EBOOK
“As a young adult in the 1970s with a fascination for photography, I was personally caught up in this general awakening of historical awareness, and I began to document and visually preserve American history of all kinds. For watermills, however, I wanted to do more than just document. My goal was to visually reveal the beauty and individual character of each watermill I recorded. The weathered wood, ancient masonry, and rusting iron, as well as the spectacular settings, were all part of my vision. Watermills became a special passion. I traveled thousands of miles, climbed steep hillsides, and descended into ravines all across the countryside to see and experience our remaining watermills. Throughout this journey, I captured images of many of the most historically significant and beautiful watermills across the US and Canada. I share my artistic vision for more than 100 of these watermills in this book, which represents more than 40 years of my personal research and photography and more than 400 years of North American history.” —from the photographer’s statement by Ken Boyd
ALSO OF INTEREST
Shot in Alabama: A History of Photography, 1839–1941, and a List of Photographers Frances Osborn Robb
ISBN 978-0-8173-1878-9 / $59.95t CLOTH EBOOK AVAILABLE
Headwaters: A Journey on Alabama Rivers John C. Hall and Beth Maynor Young
ISBN 978-0-8173-1630-3 / $39.95t CLOTH EBOOK AVAILABLE
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FALL 2020
The scenic beauty of the watermill is undeniable. The iconic waterwheel has inspired romantics for generations with their warmth and charm. Watermills were once ubiquitous landmarks along brooks, creeks, and rivers across North America. Today, only a scattering of the old watermills grace the countryside, but through these mills, and the turning of their wheels and the whirling of their stones, a small but spectacular part of history lives on. Through stunningly beautiful images, Historic Watermills of North America: A Visual Preservation presents 112 watermills still standing on the North American landscape. With idealized full-color photographs, Ken Boyd nostalgically hearkens back to a time after European settlement when these structures were the very heart of the communities whose livelihoods they made possible. These mills turned the power of flowing water into mechanical energy to grind corn and wheat into meal and flour, saw timber, loom wool and cotton cloth, and more for the benefit of their operators and communities. At one time vital to their surrounding regions, most of these surviving mills are in rural areas that have been passed over by modern development. Their designs are as individual as their makers, and their settings are as varied as the landscape. Some have been converted into homes or museums or are part of local tourist attractions. Others have been abandoned but give witness to the significance of their heydays, and others are still in use, doing the same work they have done for generations. Boyd’s beautifully rendered photographs preserve these extant structures and represent a variety of watermills across the United States and Canada. Each mill photograph is accompanied by a description providing the name of the mill, its location, date of construction, and brief comments highlighting its most noteworthy features. Additional photographs and commentary in the afterword explore the inner workings of watermills. Ken Boyd is a photographer and writer who has taught photography for the community at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Samford University since 1985. He is author of The Art of the Locomotive and Historic North American Locomotives: An Illustrated Journey. A retired assistant to the chief environmental and research officer at the Southern Company, Ken and his wife, Dori, live in Hoover, Alabama.
