The Fate of the Bellrock Mill

Jeff Green | Feb 21, 2024

Last fall, the Bellrock Mill and the remains of the Petworth Mill, both historic assets in the former Portland District of South Frontenac which had become township property, were demolished. Some of the stone in the Petworth structure was left in place, but the wooden Bell Rock Mill, which was still standing, was completely removed.

Much of the remaining equipment within the Bellrock Mill, was removed from the site and is being stored at the township works yard north of Verona. A report will be coming to South Frontenac Council later this spring about plans to create parkettes at both sites, and returning as much of the contents of the Bell Rock Mill that can withstand exposure to the elements is anticipated to be part of the planning.

The Reynolds family of Bellrock were tied in with the history of the Bellrock Mill ever since 1927, when Sperry Reynolds purchased the mill from Wilson Campsall.

Sperry Reynold's grandson Roger, who is now 76, worked at the mill when he was a teenager in the early 1960s.

The mill was built at a time when lumbering was the major industry in the region. The Rathbun Lumber Company controlled “over 3.8 million hectares of timberland spread across the northeastern part of Ontario” according to “Historic Mills of Ontario”, a book published in 1987 by Nick and Helma Mika of Belleville, that includes a page about the Bell Rock Mill. Rathbun had four major mills, and other smaller mills like the one in Bellrock and at Depot Lakes as well. At the peak of the lumbering era, Bellrock was a thriving village, with 4 water powered mills, stores and hotels, a black smith shop, cheese factory and more.

As soon as the forest was depleted, the Bellrock population declined. The most recent version of the Bellrock Mill, constructed in 1920, was the only mill that remained. The new mill was powered by water, but also had a steam powered back up so it could operate when water levels were low. It was outfitted to function as a flour mill in the 1930s, but that only lasted a decade, and then it was a veneer mill to make cheese boxes, until the market for the new standard cardboard cheese boxes became too competitive.  Between 1960 and the mid 70s, when it closed for good, the mill carried on as a sawmill and planing mill.

It was taken over by the Napanee Region Conservation Authority in the 1980s, which became incorporated into Quinte Conservation. Because it was outfitted as a sawmill, a shingle mill, a planing mill, flour and a grist mill, it made for a good site for a museum about Canadian milling technology in the 19th and early to mid 20th centuries.

But it proved to be expensive to keep up and did not generate enough traffic to cover many of those costs, and eventually went back into private hands. South Frontenac Township took it over several years ago as an owner of last resort.

Plans to renovate and restore the mill were actively on the township's work plan as recently as the publication of the South Frontenac Recreation Master Plan in 2022.

Early in 2023, however, the die was cast for the future demise of the building when a costing estimate for the renovation came before Council. As was reported in the Frontenac News in February of 2023, the cost estimate included a broad range, from as little as $1.25 million to as much as $2.5 million, and that did not include operating costs once the renovation was complete. Council decided to demolish the Bellrock Mill, and that took place in October.

The Reynolds family knew it was coming, and there was not much chance of saving the mill once it had deteriorated to that point, but there is a lot of sadness nonetheless.