Sterling Grist Mill Complex is a historic grist mill complex located at Sterling

Sterling, New York

Sterling is a town in Cayuga County, New York, United States. The population was 3,040 at the 2010 census. The town is named after "Lord Stirling", a general of the Revolutionary War. Sterling is the most northerly town in the county...

 in Cayuga County, New York

Cayuga County, New York

Cayuga County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. It was named for one of the tribes of Indians in the Iroquois Confederation. Its county seat is Auburn.- History :...

. The complex consists of a frame mill building built about 1835, the rubble foundation of an 1859 tannery

Tanning

Tanning is the making of leather from the skins of animals which does not easily decompose. Traditionally, tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound from which the tanning process draws its name . Coloring may occur during tanning...

, and a dam and penstock

Penstock

A penstock is a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water flow, or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydraulic turbines and sewerage systems. It is a term that has been inherited from the technology of wooden watermills....

 built about 1900. The mill building is built with a hand-hewn heavy timber frame sheathed in narrow pine clapboard

Clapboard (architecture)

Clapboard, also known as bevel siding or lap siding or weather-board , is a board used typically for exterior horizontal siding that has one edge thicker than the other and where the board above laps over the one below...

.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

in 2002.