Stony Brook Grist Mill
Brewster, Massachusetts
Rear of the Mill Building with Sluice to Overshot Wooden Water Wheel
Stony Brook Watermill is a wonderful place to visit. It is located in the vicinity of the Brewser Windmill so Stony Brook makes a visit to Brewster a two for one. The mill building is a one-story easily identifiable to the left. It has a basement that accesses the waterwheel power shaft and the gears that transfer the power to the first floor where the hopper and mill stones are located. The building is covered with wooden shingles, and the property surrounding the mill displays many types of trees, bushes and flowers.
Hours: July through August, Saturdays 10:00 am to 2:00 pm
Call For Hours so you won't be disappointed
Click Here for Google Map to locate Stony Brook Watermill
Stony Brook Grist Mill
Address: 830 Stony Brook Road, Brewster, MA 02631
631-689-3238
Directions: From Brewster at the intersection of Route 124 and 6A, take 6A east about one mile, turn left on Setucket Road.
The mill will be about 1.5 miles on the right.
Click Here for Brewster Historical Society
Bibliography:
Cape Cod. Map. Rand McNally, 2000.
Burrows, Fredrika A., Windmills on Cape Cod & the Islands, William S. Sullwold Publishing, Inc. Tauton, Massachusetts.
Wooden Sluice to allow the Water to hit the Top of the Wooden Water Wheel
Continuing on our journey around the mill property, this photograph views the wooden sluice that when functioning carries the water that is channeled here when the sluice gate is opened. The water flows onto the wooden waterwheel which is located at the end of this sluice on the front side of the mill building.
This perspective shows the edge of the sluice over the waterwheel. The stream in the center of this photo takes the excess water that is not needed to power the wheel. This extra water is directed around the wheel. This water along with the spent water from the wheel flows into a tail race and is channeled back to the stream. It is this stream that has been dammed at the rear of the mill that created the millpond.
This is a photograph of the wheel, wheel well and the overflow stream area. It also shows the sluice which carries the water to the top of the water wheel. The vegetation hampers visual access to the stone building, stone walls and the area. However the vegetation makes the scene spectacular!
Overshot Wooden Water Wheel
This is one of my favorite features of water mills, the waterwheel. This one was not functioning the day we visited Stony Brook but the setting is none-the-less impressive. The large wheel is about 15 feet in diameter and the wooden paddles that the water falls upon are about 4 feet wide, maybe a little wider. This type of waterwheel is called an overshot wheel because the water hits the wheel from the top and pushes the wheel forward. The wheel has a shaft at its center. This shaft turns as the wheel moves and inside the basement the energy is redirected through gears and cogs to turn the great mill stones on the first floor of the building. The stone work and the wheel well are fascinating to inspect.
Here you can see another gate that can be opened to lower the level of the pond. This photo is demonstrative because it shows the stone dam, the level of the pond and the adjustable sluice gate. Interpreting the watermill site is great fun and very interesting. A great deal of engineering knowledge is necessary when planing the location of a watermill. Stony Brook is an excellent example of this type of mill engineering at its best. The integrity of the mill site has also been maintained so as not to disturb the original design.
Walk around to the back of the mill building and you will see this beautiful millpond immediately behind the mill. There is a trail that leads back along the pond.
Michael my husband took this photo of me on the wooden walkway that spans the dam and sluice devices. The mill is on the left of the photo.
This is the view of the millpond from the trail along the pond looking back toward the mill building. The vegetation is lush and creates a beautiful and peaceful environment.
The concrete steps are for the herring run in April and May.
Herring Run Ladder (concrete steps to help them traverse the rocky Brook)
Herring Run Steps
April and May the Herring run from Cape Cod Bay into Paine's Creek and into Stony Brook and ultimately into the Stony Brook Mill Pond. The herring jump up the concrete steps made for them to access their spawning grounds. Like the above picture shows, the herring are thick. They churn the Brook as they travel up the steps to their pond. I really liked the Herring Run :)
This is the entrance door to the lowest level. I referred to the lowest level earlier as the basement.
How many doors have you seen with a millstone as the door step? :)
Displayed among the flowers is a cracked millstone. With close inspection this top half of the two stones is identified as a conglomerate. A conglomerate mill stone is one that has been created from several or many pieces of stone, shaped precisely and banded together to form a round mill stone.