Stony Brook Grist Mill

Front of Stony Brook Grist Mill

This is the front of the mill.

Sign of Stony Brook Grist Mill

Back of Stony Brook Grist Mill

This is the back of the mill.

	This flag is called the British Red Ensign. It came to America in the 1620's. In 1707, this flag was flown by the colonists and during the beginning of the Revolutionary War. This flag would have been in front of the mill when it was first built.
This is The Stony Brook where boats sailed to grind their grain. It is also how the village of Stony Brook got its name.
	The water that powers the mill comes from this millpond across the street. The water goes under the streer and into the sluice over the wheel. People like to feed the ducks and geese with the crack corn from the mill. Don't feed them bread. It isn't good for them!
This is the sluice. It holds the water that starts the wheel.
	This is the big wheel that starts the gears inside the mill. Notice the water pouring from the sluice.
This is group of gears and a big band that is part of the mill.
	This is a machine that takes the corn kernals off of the cob.
This is the bolter which is one of the last steps of the milling process. It separates the fine flour from the coarse flour.
	This is the ending of the mill process where the flour is put into the two different barrels.
This is a scale which weighs the flour. The miller's payment was a percentage of the flour's weight.

Adam Smith built the Stony Brook Grist Mill in 1751. The Grist Mill had over two dozen owners. The original Grist Mill was built in 1699. They built a second one because the first one got washed away in a flood. All of the machines are powered by water. Water from the millpond across the street flows under the street to the wheel, which powers the mill. It turns a series of gears and wheels, which turns the huge millstones. Each of these stones weighs about one ton.

Milling was very important to the colonists during the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Farmers went there to grind their grain into flour. Ships used to come down the shallow Stony Brook from Stony Brook Harbor to grind their grain at the mill. The miller would get one-tenth of the ground flour as his payment.

William Davis owned the Grist Mill in 1846. Mr. Davis didn’t only grind grain but he also sawed logs. Frank Schaefer was the last miller to own the Grist Mill from 1922-1952. In 1947, Ward Melville bought the Grist Mill and gave it to the Stony Brook Community Fund in 1952, which is now the Ward Melville Heritage Organization.

In the late 1960’s The Stony Brook Museums opened the Mill. In 1990, it was listed on The National Register of Historic Places. This means the Stony Brook Grist Mill is recognized as a very important historical place.

You can visit and tour the Stony Brook Grist Mill and then feed the ducks at the millpond.

This diagram shows how the grist mill works!

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A) SLUICE -- This allows the water to flow onto the wheel to start the mill.

B) OVERSHOT WHEEL --The big wheel that is powered by water that starts the whole mill.

C) GREATER FACE WHEEL -- The largest toothed wheel in the mill.

D) RING & PINION -- This changes the direction of power from one shaft to another.

E) SOURING MACHINE -- This cleans the grain by blowing air through the grain.

F) HOPPER -- This is a place the grain is held until the next step of grinding.

G) MILLSTONES -- Two really heavy stones that crush the grain into flour. Each stone weighs one ton. The bottom stone doesn't move and the top stone does.

H) STONE HOIST -- This lifts the very heavy millstones.

I) GRAIN CHUTE -- The flour goes down the chute from the millstones to the grain elevator.

J) GRAIN ELEVATOR -- Carries the flour to the top of the mill and drops it into the bolter.

K) BOLTER -- Machine that separates the fine grain from the course grain into two barrels.

L) BARRELS -- This is where the finshed flour is placed where it is then put into bags.