Wayside Inn Grist Mill Water Wheel - Sudbury, MA - Working Water Wheels on Waymarking.com

In Sudbury, off US 20 (Boston Post Road) is the Wayside Inn, which has several buildings on its property, including the Wayside Inn Grist Mill, which is one of the most photographed and painted mills in America. This mill not only still has a working waterwheel, but it is open on weekends for tours, where a person in costume explains the process of grinding corn into flour using waterpower.

This mill is not really historic. Henry Ford had it built in 1924 to as part of larger plans to create a boys school and an example New England village - of which was only partially realized. The mill is similar to mills in Delaware and Pennsylvania, rather than New England. This mill was made from stone, rather than wood, which was the more traditional material used.

The waterwheel is an overshoot style, with the channel coming in from behind the mill. There is also a waterfall where extra water spills over in a lovely cascade.

The mill first ground flour on Thanksgiving, 1929. The flour was used in the boys school and the Wayside Inn. When Henry Ford died in 1947, the mill stopped operation. In 1952, the mill began operations again under an agreement where a full-time miller was supplied by the Pepperidge Farm Company. For 15 years, the miller worked and demonstrated the mill operations, while producing flour for the company and featuring Pepperidge Farm products. Later, the mill would produce flour for the King Arthur Flour Company. The Wayside Inn has since hired its own Miller, and the 5-15 tons of flour produced per year is sold or used by the Inn.

The Wayside Inn Grist Mill is open to the public from April to November every year, with the Miller available for tours. Parking is available right at the site on Wayside Inn Road.

Sources:

Wayside Inn (Grist Mill):
(visit link)

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Please give the date of your visit and a brief description of your experience and any additional information you may have about the waterwheel, its current condition, etc. We would very much like at least one original photo from your visit, but it is not absolutely necessary.

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Date Logged Log User Rating   04/23/2018 RickAnn visited it