Built a year after No. 1 Mill, this mill building contained over 4,000 spindles and still retains its original tower and weathervane. Based on practices developed in the early 1800s by the Boston Manufacturing Co., these early mills used waterpower to produce cotton textiles, turning out about 160,000 yards a week by 1869. Supplies were delivered to the mills by packets and tall-masted schooners, including the Helen Mar, the North America, and the Pembroke, which freighted cotton from New Orleans to Boston for 62.5 cents per hundred pounds.