Why Did The Brewster Grist Mill

When the colonists arrived in Massachusetts a man named Thomas Prence bought land in Brewster from the Native Americans. He saw how the Native Americans were using the river to catch herring. Prince thought it would be a great place for a grist mill. When the grist mill was built everyone loved it for the corn meal. Back then everyone ate cornmeal or cornbread everyday, maybe even twice a day. So to have that so readily available was amazing for the colonists. Fabric was also sent there to be “pre-shrunk” in the water before giving to families to sew. In 1706 the first mill sadly burned down. 45 years later in 1873 they decided to build another one. They didn't think they really needed another one but they thought that it was such an amazing part of the history so they built another one for anyone to use. That very one has been there ever since.
The Factory village is a brook with a flow of seven connected ponds that drops 27 feet and rushes into the Cape Cod Bay. Thomas Prence decided that a pond in Brewster would be a great place for a grist mill. Everyone bought their corn meal there and it was a huge food source for the colonists. The factory village was a huge thing back then and pretty much everybody knew about it. The river was also a great place for fishing. But people preferred cornmeal over fish because the Native Americans were the only ones who knew how to make