The Morris Canal at Waterloo Village Historic Site is a restored 19th century canal town in Byram Township, Sussex County in northwestern New Jersey. The community was approximately the half-way point in the roughly 102-mile (165 km) trip along the Morris Canal, which ran from Jersey City, NJ across New Jersey to Phillipsburg, PA
Waterloo Village mill town possessed all the accommodations necessary to service the needs of a canal operation, including an inn, a general store, a church and a blacksmith shop (to service the mules on the canal), and a gristmill. Waterloo's geographic location would have been conducive to being an overnight stopover point on the two-day trip between Phillipsburg and Jersey City.
This large stone building was originally the 1760s charcoal house, which was used to store charcoal needed for the Andover forge that was located next door. Because wet charcoal wouldn’t burn, charcoal houses were built watertight. The charcoal house fell into disrepair after the forge was abandoned around 1795.
Almost all early furnaces and forges had a gristmill or sawmill, or both, located with them. Because water was being diverted to power the forge bellows and hammers, it was a simple next step to take advantage of the water power to operate a mill, thus increasing the forge owner’s income.
The Gristmill
When John Smith rebuilt the gristmill prior to 1831, the major grains processed were wheat, corn, rye and buckwheat. The construction of the canal lock interfered with the tailraces from the mill and the canal company was required to reconfigure them. Peter Smith operated the mill and updated it again in 1863. It was reported as operating with three grinding stones in 1870.
Grinding Wheels of the Gristmill
A sawmill was built on portions of the old forge foundation and was still in operation in 1910. The Smiths also operated a plaster mill near this site at different periods of time. The mill ground Nova Scotia limestone, that was brought to the village by canal boats. The crushed limestone was used by local farmers as a soil sweetener, to raise the pH of the acidic soil and increase their yields.