The ability to grow, then grind grain, or “grist”, was essential to Cape Cod’s earliest European settlers. With an abundance of natural wind energy that they could harness, millers were able to grind their wheat and other grains, saltworks owners could pump water and the wind power could drive machinery. The mills were built with a rotating cap or cupola, and a long pole with a wheel, so the sails of the mill could catch breezes in any direction. Yarmouth is said to have had at least five windmills, though we haven’t been able to identify them all, and some may have been in “East Yarmouth” which was later renamed Dennis.
According to local legend, Yarmouth’s Farris windmill was originally built about 1635 on the border of Sandwich and Barnstable. There it remained for well over 100 years until purchased by Lot Crowell about 1750 (likely from Bennett Wing who, according to Simeon Deyo, author of The History of Barnstable County, “had a wind gristmill at Scorton which was later moved to South Yarmouth where it served some years. One of the mill stones is now in Daniel Wing’s door-yard in South Yarmouth”). He moved the mill to Bass River near the water. This required massive effort - disassembling the mill and sails, and using teams of oxen, particularly for the very heavy mill stones. Once placed in the area of Friends Village, it remained for 32 years, then was moved in 1782 by Capt. Samuel Farris, who gave the mill its name, to his property up the street. It stood in a field behind (see image above, click to enlarge) what is now the Captain Farris House for over 100 years.
1880 map of South Yarmouth showing the location then of the Farris windmill.
In 1894 F. A. Abell purchased the windmill and it was moved this time to West Yarmouth, across the street from his home, where it was advertised as “Cape Cod’s Oldest Windmill.” This former field is now the home of a Speedway gas station at the southeast corner of Route 28 and Berry Ave. After Abell died Dr. Edward Gleason of Hyannis purchased the mill and restored it. He offered it to the Town of Yarmouth but was turned down - they wanted the potential tax revenue the owner of the land would pay. In 1935 it was purchased by a group of Ford dealers who had it disassembled and moved it to Dearborn Michigan as a gift to Henry Ford. It still stands, beautifully preserved, in Greenfield Village to this day.
Farris, now Abel’s windmill, in West Yarmouth. Mr. Abel’s home is behind, with the tower.
Yarmouth Port was home to Thacher Mill, of which only a few photos exist. Thomas Thacher financed the building of this mill in 1794. Construction began in early August and the first grain was ground in January 1795. William Taylor, Ansel Hallet and John Taylor are said to have hewn the timbers for it on Great Island and the stones were quarried from the huge boulders of Scargo Hill by Richard and John Taylor. According to a 1925 article in the Yarmouth Register by Daniel Wing, it was built on the land at what is now 17 Summer Street.
1858 map of Yarmouth Port, showing location of the mill. “School” is where the Yarmouth Port fire station currently stands.
This mill was moved down the street to the area where Clipper Ship Village is now, just to the north and east of the Yarmouth Port Fire Station. Seth Hamblin purchased it and moved the mill across Old King’s Highway to “Charles’s Folly,” the hill behind the Friday Club, just east of the Congregational Church and George Ryder operated it. (The name “Charles’s Folly” is supposed to have come from the planting of a number of trees on the hill by a Charles Hallet.) It is perhaps this mill that was responsible for the death of seven year old Samuel Nichols, who was “killed by a windmill” in 1805 while visiting his mother’s family, the Hedges. He was buried in Ancient Cemetery. A notation from the town records, below.
The mill stopped operating about 1880 and stood vacant for a number of years when Ruth Simpkins bought it to preserve it. She later sold it to Ensign Wixon of Providence in 1894, who proposed fixing it up for a summer home. After that the trail goes cold, but the mill is long gone. Below left, you can see the Thacher Mill in the 1860s, in the lower right of the frame. Right is the remains of the mill after 1910. Click either photo to enlarge.
Chapman Mill, Dennis. Image courtesy of the Dennis Historical Society digital archives.
According to the History of Barnstable County, a mill was built in Yarmouth by Gideon Gray and Thomas Sears in 1766, exact location unknown. Just a few years later, in 1775, it was moved to East Dennis by John Chapman, William Crowell, Peter Sears and Edmund Sears, who had purchased it. Later Abraham Chapman bought a controlling interest and it was run by him and his descendants. It stood on a hill south of the village but was no longer in use in the 1880s and was later dismantled.
Judah Baker is Yarmouth’s last surviving windmill in town. “On a knoll adjoining Grand Cove in North Dennis, Judah Baker built a windmill in 1791.” It was used by him for many years then taken over by his son Peter before the Civil War. Because of its height and the visibility through the upper portholes, the operator of the windmill helped announce the arrival of the Boston packet at Nobscusset. When the packet came in a flag was raised at the harbor and as soon as the lookout in the wind mill saw the flag, he went to a pole erected nearby and hoisted a flag, which communicated the news to West Harwich, South Yarmouth and the rest of Dennis that the packet was in.
Sometime in the early 1800s the mill was purchased by Freeman Crowell who moved it to Kelley’s Pond in West Dennis near Wrinkle Point.
In October 1866 Capt. Braddock Matthews purchased the mill from the Crowells, and moved it across the river to South Yarmouth. Seth Baker became the owner in 1875 and operated it until his death in 1891. In 1893 Seth’s son Joseph sold it to a William Stone. The mill was not functioning at that time and a storm in 1916 damaged it further. Charles Henry Davis assumed guardianship of it on his land, then had it moved one last time, down the street, to its present location at Windmill Beach. The town of Yarmouth took ownership of it in 1953.
In the 1970s it was offered to HSOY, but it would have to be moved to our property near the Nature Trails. The board voted not to take it, fearing the investment needed to move, fix it and keep it going. It has since been restored by the town twice, in 1973 and 1999, and reshingled not long ago. Hand hewn wood was used where possible for authenticity. The interior has the original mechanical equipment that the wind powered and the stones that ground the grain. Tours are offered in the summer by volunteer docents.
"The boys of sixty odd years ago found great pleasure ... in grasping the end of a [wind]mill arm when near the ground, and holding on until their courage failed. I have known some of the more reckless boys to braid themselves between the slats of a mill arm and make the entire circuit, with their heads downward at the highest point, which must have been fifty or more feet above the ground level; hastily untangling themselves in order to escape a blow from the following arm." - Daniel Wing, Yarmouth historian.
Researched and written by Nancy Mumford
While not the best quality, this video from the Netherlands, in English, shows how a wind driven gristmill works, and the process of grinding grain to flour.