Overview
About Chatham Saw Mill & Forest Museum
Chatham Island is a five-minute drive from Haddo across a short bridge, and it has been a timber town since 1883. The sawmill was built to process the islands' padauk, gurjan and satinwood, and for most of a century it was the industrial heart of the settlement. It remains one of the oldest and largest mills in Asia, and parts of it still run.
The Forest Museum on the site is the reason to come. It holds cross-sections of the great Andaman hardwoods, some over a metre across with growth rings you can count back two centuries, alongside marquetry, carved panels and displays on plantation forestry. The padauk and satinwood specimens are extraordinary objects in their own right.
In the yard behind the museum is a bomb pit from a Japanese air raid during the Second World War, fenced and marked. The mill was a strategic target during the occupation, and the crater has been left where it fell.
Working-mill access depends on what is operating on the day and on safety rules, so treat the museum and the yard as the visit and the mill floor as a bonus.
Why people come here
- Sawmill operating since 1883, one of Asia's oldest
- Forest Museum with giant hardwood cross-sections
- Padauk, gurjan and satinwood specimens and marquetry
- Second World War Japanese bomb crater
- Short bridge crossing to its own island
Things to do
What to do here
The Forest Museum
Hardwood cross-sections, marquetry and forestry displays. The tree-ring sections are the standout.
The bomb pit
A marked Second World War crater in the yard, from the Japanese raids on the mill.
Timber yard walk
Stacked logs, the saw sheds and the loading jetty, seen from the permitted route.
Getting there
How to reach
From Aberdeen Bazaar
About 5 km — fifteen minutes by auto or cab via Haddo and the Chatham bridge.
On a city tour
Often the first or last stop on a Port Blair sightseeing day, since it is on the Haddo side of town.
Best time to visit · October to May, weekday mornings
The mill and museum are busiest with school groups late morning. Sundays are generally closed.
Good to know
Travel tips
- Different closing day from the museums — this one shuts on Sunday, not Monday.
- Closed shoes. It is a working timber yard, not a gallery.
- Photography of mill operations may be restricted; ask before shooting.
- Pair with Haddo jetty or the Water Sports Complex, both close by.
Gallery
Chatham Saw Mill & Forest Museum in pictures
Port Blair (South Andaman)
Combine it with
Tour packages
