Silas C. Read Sawmill
(1863)
Fort Gordon, Georgia

The Silas C. Read Sawmill (HAER GA-91) was one of the oldest sawmills in Georgia, likely established by Silas C. and Lucy J. Read during the Civil War to meet the lumber needs of the Confederate war industry. The presence of a masonry and concrete dam at the site is unique among the nearly seventy-five historic mills that operated in Richmond County from 1746 to 1941. Documentation for the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) was performed with Panamerican Consultants, Inc. (Tuscaloosa, Alabama) under the US Army’s Fort Gordon Directorate of Public Works program to reestablish wetland resources on the base. The complete documentation is housed at the Library of Congress.