Manotick Directory: Birding Location in Ottawa

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Watson's Mill - Dickinson Square

Watson's Mill [5525 Dickinson St.], is Ottawa's only heritage site and is one of the few operating industrial grist mills left in North America. It was built in 1860, and the village of Manotick grew up around it. It is also located on the banks of the Rideau Canal National Historic Site and UNESCO World Heritage Site, which was completed in 1832. The dam behind the Mill is part of the Rideau Canal, and a popular spot for fishing in summer.

From May to October, Watson’s Mill is open daily, including weekends and holidays, from 10 am to 5 pm with free admission and parking. Grain milling usually occurs on Sundays. It operates as a living museum all summer with pioneer demonstrations and guided tours. In the store you can buy stone-milled flour, fresh bread, books and videos, souvenirs - and even a bag of feed for the local ducks.

On the first weekend of June every year Dickinson Square becomes the centre of an outdoor festival called Dickinson Days.

Dickinson Square Buildings and Parks

Across the street from Watson's Mill is Dickinson House [5522 Dickinson St.]. Next door is the Carriage Shed [5524], where used books are sold on summer weekdays. The Weavers House [1131 Mill St.] is just behind Dickinson House. the Ayers Building [1128 Mill St.] is across the street and currently houses the Rural Ottawa South Support Services (ROSSS)

Visitors to Dickinson Square may walk across the dam just behind Watson's Mill to a small park where there are picnic tables - remember to buy feed for the tame ducks at the Mill store! If you walk up to the road and turn left, you may also visit A. Y. Jackson Park, where you can enjoy the gazebo, with its great view.

As you walk across the dam, notice the manually operated equipment to raise and lower the huge square timbers. This dam helps control water levels in the "Long Reach" section of the Rideau Waterway between Long Island Locks and Burritts Rapids Lock. The dam is operated by the Rideau Canal. The 200 km Rideau Canal, and its locks, dams and weirs, was an engineering marvel when it was built in the nineteenth century.

Architecture

Watson’s Mill is a unique working flour mill, one of the best-preserved examples of 19th century mill architecture. The building showcases a symmetrical, unornamented stone building, the original tin plated roof in the tôle de la canadienne or Quebec style. The limestone was quarried from the river banks, and the wood was cut locally and milled at the Long Island Sawmill.

Inside you will find ionic columns, high baseboards, plastered walls, and the original working machinery. The turbines in the basement operate from the power of the river diverted into them. Through a series of gears this power is transferred to the upper two floors to transfer grain, remove the bran, and turn the large stones that grind grain into flour.

History

Set in the picturesque Dickinson Square, Watson's Mill has a remarkable history linked to local politics, the building of a country, and a tragic love story. The gristmill was built in 1860 as the Long Island Flouring Mills by two prominent Ottawa businessmen Moss Kent Dickinson and Joseph Merrill Currier. A saw mill was built a year earlier on the opposite bank of the river, and a woolen carding mill the following year. The Canada Bung, Plug and Spile Factory was constructed in 1875, completing the Long Island Milling Enterprise, later called "Manotick Mills". Dickinson shipped his bungs all over the world. The village that grew up around the various operations was named "Manotick", an Ojibwe word meaning “Island in the River.”

In 1861, Joseph's wife Annie Currier died in a tragic accident in the mill just after they had returned from their honeymoon. She was killed when her dress became caught in one of the turbine shafts. There have been numerous unconfirmed sightings of Annie’s ghost in Watson’s Mill.

In 1928, Elizabeth Dickinson sold the mill to Alec Spratt. When the mill was purchased by Harry Watson in 1946, the name changed to Watson's Mill. In 1963, the National Capital Commission (NCC) entered into a lease agreement with Watson to open the Mill as a heritage attraction. It remained a working mill until 1972, when the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority purchased Watson’s Mill, Dickinson House and the Carriage Shed. The RVCA restored the mill and turned it into a working grist mill, museum, and gift shop.

In 2008, Watson’s Mill Manotick Incorporated (WMMI) was created, and the property is managed by a volunteer board of directors. Dickinson Square Heritage Management Inc. (DSHMI) is a coalition of community organizations (15 in 2011) whose mission is to preserve and promote the heritage character of the Square. The Manotick Mill Quarter Community Development Corp was formed by the City of Ottawa, comprised of five councillors and representatives from both Watson's Mill and DSHMI, who will decide on future development of Dickinson Square.

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