The History of Little Mill Country Club

Along the 9th hole of the white course at Little Mill Country Club stands a portion of the original structure of what was once Branin’s Mill, now Little Mill, part of the Taunton Forge furnace operations owned and operated by colonial Ironmaster Charles Read in 1766. The lank was originally part of the Taunton Tract and is rick in state and national history. It is now chronicled that Taunton Furnace on Read’s Mill Creek, now Haines Creek, produced mostly pots, kettles, stoves ect against the mandate of the British Empire.

In 1776, the forge was commissioned to produce shot and cannon for the Revolutionary War and later the Civil War with fuel and iron ore supplied by Branin’s Mill (Little Mill) and it’s twin lakes. The land and furnace operations, sister sire to Batsto Village, changed hands a handful of times throughout the next hundred years until Joseph Hinchman purchased the mill converting the mill pond to a cranberry bog. The bog was unsuccessful and the land lay untouched for another several years. It was from Joseph Hinchman’s son, Samuel that Mathew F. Van Istenday, Jr. purchased the property including what are now known as Van Lake and Lost Lake to build his dream golf course.