The beautiful spot, featuring a sparkling brook and picturesque mill, is both scenic and historical. The Grist Mill is the only remaining structure from Brewster’s Factory Village, a bustling 19th Century industrial area.

Scroll down for a photo tour, sharing the experience with a third-grade class on a field trip.

The restored mill is open every Saturday in the summer. Visitors can see the water wheel in motion and purchase fresh ground corn meal. The upstairs museum features artifacts of 19th Century Cape Cod life, weaving demonstrations and much more. Visitors strolling the footpaths might happen upon basking turtles, spot a heron flying overhead, see dragonflies hovering over the mill pond, or see a variety of fish in the brook. The mill site is a Brewster treasure.

In the spring, the annual alewife migration up the fish ladders of Stony Brook is awe-inspiring, and was the subject of The Run, a nature classic written by John Hay. Footpaths along the edges of the brook are a wonderful vantage point to view the fish, which journey from Cape Cod Bay to the freshwater ponds of West Brewster in order to spawn. The herring run starts in mid-March (depending on air and water temperatures) and continues through early May.

Mill and Museum Hours:
The Grist Mill and Museum are open every Saturday in July and August from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Admission is free. Fresh cornmeal is available for purchase.

For more information and directions to the mill, click here.