Dexter Grist Mill in Sandwich Owned by Seth Pope (1689-1744)

I’ve stopped to take photos of Dexter Mill in Sandwich before but never timed it right to visit when it was open for tours until recently. It’s situated in the picturesque Sandwich Village on Shawme Pond, complete with a herring run that’s busy each spring and a pair of beautiful swans paddling about.

In 1640 Plymouth Colony granted Thomas Dexter six acres in Sandwich to build a water-powered grist mill to grind corn grown by the citizens of town. The operation was expanded to include fulling mills and a weave shop. 

According to tradition, my 9th great-grandfather Seth Pope was a peddler who was warned out of Sandwich. He settled in Dartmouth where he became a wealthy man—owning a wharf and warehouse in New Bedford. As an act of revenge for his earlier snubbing by Sandwich officials, he purchased substantial properties there, setting his sons up with beautiful homes. He also purchased Dexter’s mill for his son Seth to run. Seth is my 8th great-grandfather. 

According to our knowledgeable guide, the current mill building has gone through many renovations and reconstructions over the years. It was rebuilt in the 1960s using Dexter’s building plans. It is operational and the cornmeal ground there is available for purchase.

I’ve been fortunate now to visit three mills, or replicas of early mills, owned by my direct ancestors. The others are the Plimoth Grist Mill owned by John and Sarah Jenney and the Nye Mill in Sandwich owned by Benjamin Nye and then his son Jonathan. The mechanics of grinding are impressive. The stones are huge, weighing up to a ton, and are cut from a single block of stone. They are used in pairs, with a stationary bedstone and a top stone, called the runner stone, that rotates. They are carefully designed so they never actually touch each other and the distance is adjusted for different types of grain. There are grooves that allow air to pass through to allow the heat from the friction of grinding to escape so the grain would not burn. The heavy runner stone would have to be lifted to allow for dressing the stones on a regular basis, which involved cutting the furrows and shaping the surface.  

Mills were incredibly important in the colony as they provided a main food source and saved individuals much manual labor—towns granted land to millers who were typically upstanding citizens and also oversaw their work to ensure they were treating citizens fairly.  Millers would be paid by collecting a toll, a portion of each customer’s grain bought to the. Mill for grinding. Going to the mill was an important social activity as well. The miller in Plymouth told us that many folks would go to the mill themselves rather than send servants or children because they didn’t want to miss out on milling about and chatting with their neighbors. 

I also enjoy learning the idioms we still use that originated from the old water and wind mills:

Been through the mill

Run of the mill

Grist for the mill

The daily grind

Nose to the grindstone

Fair to middling

Three sheets to the wind

Rule of thumb

First come, first serve

Millstone around your neck

Seth had a quick commute—his home was just across the street from the mill at 10 Grove Street. The house is still standing and is gorgeous.  

I wrote more about Seth Pope here.