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All the United States Massachusetts Montague The Montague Book Mill

The Montague Book Mill

Books you don’t need in a place you can’t find.

Montague, Massachusetts

Added By
Rebecca Rideout
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The structure retains a lot of the charm of centuries past.   Mike Steinhoff/CC by 2.0
The structure retains a lot of the charm of centuries past.   Mike Steinhoff/CC by 2.0
The book shop is flanked by a restaurant, cafe, and other stores.   John Phelan/CC by 3.0
  missingfilm / Atlas Obscura User
Lady Killgrew Cafe adjacent to the book store  
  pretendingtowrite / Atlas Obscura User
  pretendingtowrite / Atlas Obscura User
  pretendingtowrite / Atlas Obscura User
  pretendingtowrite / Atlas Obscura User
Looking out the window  
  BuncoBilko / Atlas Obscura User
  BuncoBilko / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Located on the back roads of western Massachusetts, amidst historic buildings and a serene river landscape, the Montague Book Mill has 25,000 books jammed into a 175-year-old building perched on the banks of the Sawmill River, a narrow creek filled with black stones smoothed by the cold water.

Like most old mill buildings in the region, the revamped interior has retained most of the character of the original building, with scuffed wooden floors, giant windows, and traces of the industrial nature it once had. Once known as Stone’s Gristmill, the building began as a grain mill for local families in the 1830s and was used as a water powered drill press in the 1940s before being bought and transformed in 1987.

The maze-like aisles and staircase make book searching nearly as enjoyable as browsing. In every corner you’ll find an armchair, bench, or couch to take in the view over the fast moving river. Readers can be found in both the summer afternoon sun or cuddling up during a blizzard reading about everything from astrology to African history to arachnids to abstract art.

The store is now part of a bigger complex that uses the surrounding outbuildings to house independently owned businesses that complement the book store including an artist studio, a record store, an antique shop, a restaurant, and an adjoining café whose huge windows overlook the rushing waterfall.

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Added By

Outrider

Edited By

Blindcolour, Edward Denny, BuncoBilko, Ashley...

  • Blindcolour
  • Edward Denny
  • BuncoBilko
  • Ashley
  • jessicahester1
  • missingfilm
  • pretendingtowrite
  • jmocklin

Published

June 1, 2010

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The Montague Book Mill
440 Greenfield Rd
Montague, Massachusetts, 01351
United States
42.537936, -72.537875
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