Red Mill Museum Village

The Red Mill Museum Village is a spacious open air museum sitting along South Branch Raritan River designed to give visitors a taste of the colonial lifestyle. The museum centers around a historic mill that dates back to the early 1800s and it has served several roles over the years including a wool processing plant, a peach basket factory, and a textile mill along with the traditional milling roles. The Mill is quite eye catching with its tall four floor design and deep red paint job sitting right at the edge of the river. Just below the mill the river drops over a low dam into a wide waterfall that spreads almost the full width of the river, and on calm days the pool underneath creates a clean reflection of the mill and the trees behind it. The old iron bridge just downstream is the ideal place to set up your gear, its walkway attracts few visitors so you can take your time lining up the mill, the falls and the reflection together. You can also cross to the downtown side of the river for a wider, more open view of the whole scene. Morning light is soft on the river facing side and the water is calmest then. Overcast days also work beautifully here, keeping the red of the mill rich and the falling water from blowing out. Autumn is definitely the ideal season for the whole museum when the trees begin to change colour adding so many rich tones to your compositions. This area offers a mix of free shooting locations, like from the bridge and the riverbank, and and paid shooting locations, close ups of the mill and the other buildings on the museum grounds. There is a parking lot for the museum but it fills quickly on weekends and through October, so it is easier to park in town and walk over. (Clinton, New Jersey, USA)