NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
AND REMINDER 
Vol. XII 
MECH oN coeacidae lines 20n1914 
No. 26 
The Old Mills at Rowley 
After 271 Years of Service Glen Mills are Still Running 
FHERE are landmarks and landmarks which symbo- 
lize the New England of old, but the old Bay 
State, Massachusetts, seems to be the richest in this re- 
spect. In fact, it might be said that the bulk of the 
interesting places to be seen in this state, in point of 
historical interest, might be narrowed down to the North 
Shore and its environs. Not that the shore monopolizes 
everything of an interesting nature, but within an hour’s 
motor ride of any of the summer colonies there are sure- 
ly a great many points of interest to be seen. 
One of these is the Glen Mills of Rowley, which 
have been operated continuously since 1643. This 1s 
quite a record of usefulness for any business, and even 
today, after 271 years of service the old mill presents 
much the same appearance that it did when the Hives 
was first harnessed to the wheel and the large round 
stones took the place of the pestle and mortar, which the 
early settlers had used up to this time to grind their meal. 
The original building has been enlarged to meet the de- 
mands of the increased population, but the same dam, 
with the identical stones and timbers imbedded in the 
mud, the same water way and foundation for the wheel 
box, stronger with time, though showing signs of age, 
are still there 
he mill is situated in the midst of a pretty valley, 
where the waters course down between sloping hills, 
while on either side of the stream, as far as the eye can 
see, are towering oaks and pines and white birches. It 
is itself over-shadowed by a row of widespread oaks 
that look as though they antedated the structure they have 
been the consort of for so many years. The old toll road 
runs by on one side, 
other sections of the town converge nearby, making the 
mill as in the olden times, the centre of community life. 
The first Dummer 
mill in the new world 
was built in Roxbury by 
Richard Dummer, a rich 
Englishman, who came 
to the colony in 1632. 
He- remained in Rox- 
bury until four years 
later, when he fell into 
disfavor with the Gov- 
ernor because of un- 
timely political activity, 
and removed to the 
parish of Byfield. Here 
he was granted a large 
tract of land in consid- 
eration of the establish- 
ment of a gristmill. In 
1638 the waters of the 
Parker were first trou- 
bled by artificial barriers 
and machinery, John 
Pearson, and . Richard 
while other highways leading to 
GLEN MILLS AT ROWLEY 
Dummer were the original millers of that town and for 
a time were partners. Then Dummer acquired the whole 
interest in the mill. 
In 1643-4 Thomas Nelson was allotted 36 acres of 
land on what is now Mill river for the purpose of erecting 
a saw and grist mill. ‘The partner of Richard Dummer 
soon acquired this new mill and this is the one that is 
now known as Glen Mills and which has been in the 
Dummer family for so long. It figured largely in the 
history of the times. 
Mr. Dummer was the John D. Rockefeller of early 
times. He was the richest man in the colony and when 
the General Court incurred his disfavor he removed to 
Byfield, where many of the prominent people of the times 
followed him. ‘This accounts for the fact that in latter 
years many men who led in the making of the country 
were residents of this old town. 
In the King Philip war a large number of men were 
drawn from the town, and with them they carried wagon 
loads of meal for their own and for their fellows’ tare 
in the protracted struggle that followed. Still later, in 
the French and Indian wars, the stone wheels of the old 
Glen Mills ground the corn into meal for the fighting 
men of the Massachusetts Bay colony who went to the 
front to battle for the life of the Anglo-Saxon race on 
the Atlantic seaboard. 
With the news of the first English depredation plans 
were made by the men of the town to join the Continental 
forces and send meal to the army. The old Benjamin 
Coleman house, which is still standing, was made the ren- 
dezvous. Here a little later a large wagon was prepared 
and loaded with meal from the Glen mill—as much as the 
wagon could hold—and with a guard of patriots the trip 
to Valley Forge was made and the contents turned over 
to the quartermaster of 
Washington’s ariny. 
Among the guard mak- 
ing that long wintry 
trip, hundreds of miles 
over snow and ice, were 
five members of the 
Adams family, the fa- 
ther and four sons. ‘Tae 
old Adams house still 
stands and shares with 
the mill and the Cole- 
man house the interest 
of thousands of visitors 
every year. 
The first Dummer 
mill on the waters of 
the Parker was. sus- 
pended after a long life, 
and Samuel Dummer 
acquired the _ present 
Glen mills in 1817. 
The family had always 
