The Waterhouse Grist Mill Saga

In the early 1700s, Abraham and Gideon Waterhouse moved from the original settlement of Saybrook Colony at the mouth of the Connecticut River to the north quarter of the Colony, now called Chester, and built a gristmill near the top of Goose Hill. The mill was operated by a large waterwheel that received its power from the flow in a small stream, now known as Waterhouse Brook, and served to grind corn and rye into meal and flour for local farmers.The grist mill was probably in...
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In the early 1700s, Abraham and Gideon Waterhouse moved from the original settlement of Saybrook Colony at the mouth of the Connecticut River to the north quarter of the Colony, now called Chester, and built a gristmill near the top of Goose Hill. The mill was operated by a large waterwheel that received its power from the flow in a small stream, now known as Waterhouse Brook, and served to grind corn and rye into meal and flour for local farmers.The grist mill was probably in operation for a century. We know this because of a letter from "A Chester Resident" in 1905 in the local newspaper and because decades later Kate Silliman reprinted that letter when she wrote her Chester Scrapbook for the Chester Historical Society. Because of that "Chester Resident," the Waterhouse millstones were preserved in front of Chester Bank for 100 years (they are now at the Chester Museum at The Mill). While the 20 sq. ft. footprint of the Waterhouse Grist Mill is still evident in the woods off Goose Hill Road, no detailed written descriptions or drawings of the mill have ever been found. Yet after several years of meticulous research, Nathan Jacobson, Chester native and professional engineer, has written The Waterhouse Grist Mill Saga to explain why the Waterhouse brothers are the likely builders of the grist mill and why a grist mill was crucially important to early settlers. He also illustrates, through photographs from the Plimoth Plantation Grist Mill and schematic drawings, how he believes the Waterhouse Grist Mill was constructed and how it operated.