“My
darling I am dreaming of the days gone by,
When
you and I were sweethearts beneath the summer sky …
But
still I will remember, where I first met you …
Down
by the old mill stream where I first met you …
It
was there I knew that you loved me true ..”
~ “Down by the Old Mill Stream”
~ written by Tell Taylor and one of
the most popular songs of the early 20th century. The publisher,
Forster Music Publisher, Inc. sold four million copies.
The
song was written in 1908 while Taylor was sitting on the banks of the Blanchard
River in northwest Ohio in the city of Findlay. Reportedly, Taylor’s friends
persuaded him not to publish the song, believing it did not have commercial
value. Two years later in 1910, however, the song was published and introduced
to the public with the performances by the vaudeville quartet The Orpheus
Comedy Four. After the group performed the song at a Woolworth store in Kansas
City, it became so popular that the store sold out all one thousand copies of
its sheet music Taylor had brought with him. Since then, over four million
copies of its sheet music have been sold and it has become a staple for
barbershop quartets.
~ recorded by artists including Arthur Clough,
Harry Macdonough, Bing Crosby, The Mills Brothers and Harry James
The
Old Mill Bridge is the star of this high contrast monochrome shot I captured on
perfect, sun-dappled late August afternoon just off the Saucon Rail Trail,
Hellertown, Pennsylvania.
The
Saucon Creek streams under the bridge, constructed in 1867 and considered to be
one of the earliest dated iron Pratt pony truss structures known in
Pennsylvania. The bridge was rebuilt in 1948 and rededicated April 17, 2013.
The
Old Mill Bridge is part of the Ehrharts Mill Historic District that appears on
the National Register of Historic Places.
First
developed as a mill site in the mid-18th century, the Grist Mill
ground wheat from local farmers that was shipped out via the North Penn
Railroad, which now serves as the Saucon Rail Trail. The mill was operated by
the Ehrhart family from 1820 to 1959 and was destroyed by a fire in 1995.
