Washington Township Land Trust
Obadiah LaTourette Grist and Saw Mill
The Red Tour
Sunday, May 7, 2023
12pm to 5pm
Washington Township Land Trust
Obadiah LaTourette Grist and Saw Mill
Event Information
- See ongoing preservation work to the mill
- Learn about Dr. Ferdinand Max Eugene Blass and his contribution to Oxygen Therapy
- Visit Mill Pond Park – 20+ acres with easy walking trails
- Enjoy great restaurants within easy walking distance of the mill
- Parking is limited in front. Extra parking is close by on the other side of the traffic light at a lot across from the La Rienda restaurant.
Located in the center of downtown Long Valley and built c.1750 by Philip Weise, the Obadiah LaTourette Grist and Saw Mill was essential to the economic development of German Valley. NJ and National Registers of Historic Places cite the mill as a key structure in the German Valley Historic District. For much of its history, it was the most successful business in the town – grinding grain and producing Flour and animal feed. During the 1800’s, a saw mill believed to have been located behind the grist mill processed locally harvested timber for the local farmers.
Likely powered by two internal water wheels, the mill was converted to water turbine power by owner Obadiah La Tourette in the 1870s. The turbines were manufactured at the Bartley Foundry on nearby Bartley Road. Milling operations continued until the early – 1940s, and most of the original machinery remains – a rare visual testament to over 200 years of milling history.
From 1947 until 1967, Dr. Eugene Blass, a doctor of homeopathic medicine, used the mill as both his home and office. Arrested for quackery and ostracized by the townsfolk, his work in oxygen therapy nonetheless aroused interest in the A.M.A in the 1990’s.
