"Never take toll from a widow's grist, or from a man bringing grain on his back."
-Colonel John Goffe
This was the rule at Colonel John Goffe's gristmill. Col. Goffe was a wealthy and important man who owned a grist mill. People brought their grain to the mill to be ground into flour. They would pay Col. Goffe for using his mill with a "toll" (share) of the "grist" (flour). The Colonel knew that women raising their families alone or men forced to "back" heavy grain sacks over miles of foot trails needed every ounce of grist to keep their families alive. He was kind enough to not charge them a toll for using his mill.
Mills are water powered machines used to do work. During the 18th century, mills were simple places, roughly built near water power. Grist, saw and fulling mills helped early Vermont communities meet their need for food, shelter and clothing.
Grist Mills
Grain was essential to the early Vermont settlers. They used wheat, Indian corn, and rye to make bread, cakes and puddings. These grains could be pulverized in stone and wooden mortars, as the Native Americans had done, but it was very hard work. Some frontiersmen built "plumping mills" from hollowed-out logs. They filled the logs with grain, which was cracked and beaten by a heavy stone hanging from a pole. However, most people preferred to carry their grain to gristmills powered by water wheels, even if this meant walking, riding or boating many miles.
Saw Mills
As each new town was settled, saw mills were quickly built to cut lumber. The mills were used until the forest timber was gone and most of the houses were built. Then they would slow down until the young second-growth trees were big enough to cut. Village and neighborhood sawmills were small, often one-man businesses. Sometimes they were "day mills." Day mills were owned and shared by several neighbors, each was allowed to use the saw for a certain number of hours or days a week. A man could "buy into" a day mill for the time it took to clear his land or build his house. Then he could sell his share of the mill to someone who needed lumber.
Fulling Mills
As towns grew, most found they could support a fulling mill or two, as well as saw and grist mills. Fulling mills cleaned and shrunk homespun cloth. Lots of water power was needed to run the wooden paddles which beat the cloth to clean it. Fullers often dyed the cloth as well. Fulling mills were never as glamorous as sawmills, but, in a time when almost every household spun yarn and wove cloth, fullers did much of the hard and messy word of getting the cloth ready to be cut into clothes. And, the fuller did his part in preparing a town's extra cloth for sale to the cities or overseas.
Mills were important to the early settlers. Each new town, as it was settled, quickly built its own grist mill. As the town's population grew, sawmills and fulling mills were also built. The mills helped the community to meet its needs for food, shelter and clothing. In addition, trips to the mill provided welcome breaks in the daily work routine and an opportunity to catch up with the neighborhood news.