When we think of the American Industrial Revolution, we think of Samual Slater and the historic Slater Mill in Pawtucket. Of course, the mill was originally in North Providence when Sam built it, but Pawtucket really needs some positive press, so we still let them claim it. When we think of chocolate manufactured in the US, most of us will think of Hershey, Pennsylvania. The true original capital of American chocolate, though, was tiny Central Falls, Rhode Island. Well, it was part of Smithfield at the time, but hey, Central Falls only has 1 square mile of real estate so we'll cut them some slack here as well.
Today's photo shows the location of the William Wheat Chocolate Mill. It was built in 1780, and predates the Slater Mill by a full decade. In fact, it was the mechanical processes employed at the Chocolate Mill that Slater used to build his textile mill. The chocolate produced at the mill was sold to the general public, of course, but it was also sold to the military for medicinal purposes. I'm not quite clear how chocolate healed musket ball wounds, but someone convinced the military establishment of the benefits of chocolate. One does wonder how much they paid for it, though. As to the mill, it was unfortunately destroyed by a storm in 1804 and all that remains today is a section of the foundation. You might say that Rhode Island's loss was Hershey's gain.
Post processing started with a classic filter in Topaz B&W FX. I adjusted adaptive exposure, regions, contrast, boost black, boost white, and the color sensitivity sliders. A levels adjustment was added in PSE.
@trenaspics Thanks, Trena. For us in RI, it's quite amusing since Central Falls is one of the most violent cities in the state. It's only 1 square mile - the smallest city in RI - and is notorious for drug infested gang violence. It adds an interesting dimension to photography as you have one eye in the viewfinder and the other straining to watch your back! lol
September 21st, 2013
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