Nailing a Great Find in Wareham

From Dave Brigham:

I don't always know where I'm going when I'm out backsidin', but I often end up somewhere good. While vacationing on Cape Cod recently, I wheeled my car over the bridge back to the mainland, and cruised through Bourne, Marion and Wareham looking for stuff to shoot for this here blog. Driving around a small bend on Main Street in Wareham, I spied the neon sign of the diner above, and pulled over immediately onto Elm Street, where I found an even better subject, as you'll see below.

The Mill Pond Diner is a stainless steel 1950 O'Mahony unit, per this Retro Roadmap article. I'm not sure whether it's always been in this location. I'm guessing it has, since up until 2006 there were employees working at the place below that I'm excited to tell you about, which means a regular clientele, something that eateries need. Also, scenes from "Ted 2" were filmed here.

OK, let's get to the main attraction.

As I've explained before, scenes like this make me warm and tingly inside. I feel a great sense of accomplishment for doing something as simple as stumbling across an old place that's been part of locals' lives for decades, if not centuries. I can't ever get enough of places like this.

The Tremont Nail Company, founded by Issac and Jared Pratt here in 1819, manufactured cut nails and other products on this site until 2006, when the firm was sold to Acorn Manufacturing of Mansfield, Mass. "The town of Wareham bought the complex in 2004 in what was called a risky gamble. In 2007, the town decided to invest in the upkeep of the mills so that the elements don't claim the structure," per Wikipedia.

The buildings seem to be in pretty good shape, which is fortunate, considering the fires that have occurred on this site in the last 200 years.

Prior to the nail factory, a cotton factory stood on this site. Erected in 1814, it was partially burned to the ground by the British during the War of 1812, as the plaque below indicates.

Across the street from the old factory, in a former company store building, is Elizabeth & Company, a shop specializing in "functional accessories for life."

At the eastern edge of the former nail factory's property is a sluice-controlled canal where I believe once stood a water wheel that powered the manufacturing.

The factory had its own post office, which I think was pretty common for operations of this size.

Damn, I love it when things work out!