LMCC History

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 1776. The land was originally part of the Taunton Tract and is rich in state and national history. It is chronicled that Taunton Furnace on Read's Mill Creek, now Haines Creek, produced mostly pots, kettles, stoves etc 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 likes. The land and furnace operations, sister site to Batsto Village, changed hands a handfull of times throughout the next hundred years until Joseph Hinchman purchased the mill converting the millpond 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 Istendal, Jr. purchased the property including what are now known an Wan Dal Lake and Lost Lake to build his dream golf course.