Duck Harbor The only water powered mill remaining in northeastern Pennsylvania was built by William Holbert & John Branning in 1873, during the peak of the lumber industry in Wayne County. The mill was constructed using hand hewn beams, wooden pulleys, and levers. A nearby flat rail car on an elevated track moved lumber from where it had been cut to where it would be stacked to cure. On an average day, at the height of production, 5.000 hoard feet of lumber was processed by only three men using a 51 inch saw at 850 rpm. Some of the longest logs in the region used to build local barns, structures and sold to the markets in New York and Pennsylvania, were processed in this mill. In 1898 the mill, nearby timber land and pond were purchased by Joel Hill Sr. a former state senator. It was operated by Nelson Hill and Joel G. Hill, II until 1971. In 1988 the Duck Harbor Company donated the mill to the Equinunk Historical Society who is currently restoring the machinery, building and grounds, including the mill pond. It was added to the list of National Register for Historic Sites in 1974. Historic Preservation Award given in 1995 to the Equinunk Historical Society for their restoration of this property.

From 1993 through 2008 the Honesdale National Bank published an annual wall calendar, each featured 13 historic sites. The sites were chosen and researched by a committee of the historical society and artwork was commissioned to Judy Hunt and William Amptman by the bank.

This page was one month of the calendar and was made possible through the Wayne County Commissioners and a Tourism Promotion Committee’s Tourism Grant.