West Stockbridge — The Rockdale Mills of West Stockbridge operated along the Williams River, north of the hamlet of Williamsville, and a bit south of the convergence of Route 41, Pixley Hill Road, Cobb Road, and the Williams River.
The photograph above and the advertising poster immediately below were published circa 1910.
Rockdale Mills was legendary for its popular, self-rising buckwheat flour which was shipped by rail to appreciative consumers across the country and around the world.
Area farmers prospered by developing extensive acreage to grow the buckwheat.
Rockdale Mills and the surrounding hamlet of Rockdale were aptly named for the area’s rocky cliffs, numerous glacial erratics, waterfalls, and dramatic glacial potholes through which the Williams River swirled as it dropped rapidly in elevation.
An ideal location for generating water power, the Rockdale section of town quickly boasted a variety of small businesses beginning in the latter 1700s. By the mid-1800s, Rockdale hosted an iron forge, saw mills, blacksmith shop, nail factory, stone cutter’s shop, grain and flour mills, a tavern, and even a small post office which operated from 1870 until 1911.
About the same time the post office closed, Rockdale Mills was sold to T. Ellis Ramsdell, an owner of Monument Mills in Housatonic. The site was transitioned into a power generating station and was sold to Southern Berkshire Electric Company in 1921. An impressive private home with unique architecture now bridges the river at the site. Nearby ruins and rubble remain along the abandoned railroad line.
