by Tim Richards
When my wife Meg Clarke and I bought a house on Mill Pond Road in Truro Massachusetts four years ago, we had no idea that a tide mill once operated on the pond. Eventually we asked ourselves “Why is the pond called Mill Pond?”
Sunset as seen from the Mill Pond dam. (Photo by Margaret Clarke.)
We knew little about tide mills. We did, however, appreciate the power of the tides. I grew up sailing on the Pamet River in Truro, where every outing requires respect for tidal currents and where sailing schedules are dictated by the 8-12 foot tides. I also had a professional interest in tidal power because renewable energy policy, including tidal energy, was an important part of my work for the General Electric Company.
In November 2018, my father and I visited the Truro Historical Society’s Cobb Archive to research the history of Mill Pond. With help from the Archive volunteers, we found that Mill Pond was aptly named: an 1890 history of Barnstable County includes a sentence describing the Truro mill. The Cobb Archive also included Truro maps dated between 1795 and 1858, which showed a mill on the pond (see detail from the 1858 map below). Lesson one from our research was “pay attention to the obvious!” If a pond is called “Mill Pond” or a hill “Mill Hill” it is a good bet that there was once a mill in that location.
Truro mill pond and grist mill on 1858 map.
Since that visit to the Cobb Archive, I have continued to research the Truro tide mill. Pieces of the jig saw puzzle have come from hand-written deeds, census records, histories, newspapers, memoirs, genealogical sites, and physical artifacts.
Meg and I were further inspired by attending the 2019 annual conference of the Tide Mill Institute in Kittery, Maine, where we learned more about tide mills, visited tide mill sites and met experts who have helped with this research. At that conference, I also shared preliminary information about the Truro tide mill.
Many puzzle pieces remain undiscovered. However, we can now trace the origins of the Truro tide mill to the late 1780s, when a group of Truro residents dammed a creek on the south side of the Pamet River and built a grist mill. Tide mill technology was well-known on the Outer Cape, although windmills outnumbered tide mills in the area. At least three tide mills existed in neighboring Wellfleet before the mill in Truro was built.
The mill ground local corn and rye, likely supplemented by grains purchased from the mainland. The operation was upgraded in 1844, apparently shifting from a vertical to a more efficient horizontal wheel at that time.
The mill was always owned by a group of proprietors. Those proprietors included members of the Hinkley, Rich, Knowles and Whorf families. By 1850 and through at least 1855, Anthony Snow Collins operated the mill. Collins was born in Portugal, emigrated to Cape Cod, married the widow of a sailor who had been lost at sea, and became an active member of his adopted community. In addition to serving as the miller, Collins ultimately owned the largest portion of the tide mill complex. He and his wife Thankful lived in the house marked “A. S. Collins” in the 1858 map above.
Truro’s population and local grain production were both declining before the Civil War, increasingly challenging the economic viability of the mill. In addition, coal-fired steam mills in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ground grain more efficiently than the tide mills and windmills of the Outer Cape. By 1860, Collins had changed his principal occupation from “miller” to “seaman.” The mill seems to have operated occasionally in the first half of the 1860s, but it closed permanently before the end of the decade.
Author’s Note
This will be the first in a series of pieces, each of which will cover an aspect of the Truro tide mill. As a newcomer to the field, I seldom know which characteristics of the Truro mill are typical of tide mills and which are unusual. I hope that readers will respond to these articles by sharing related information and research ideas. Ideally, we will develop more complete perspectives that will help uncover, understand and appreciate this important and exciting history.
This article and Tim Richards’ other articles about the Truro tide mill have been incorporated into a single research paper, “Ebbs and Flows of a Cape Cod Tide Mill,” published in the December, 2022, issue of International Molinology. This paper is available here with permission from International Molinology.
Great Story – Very interesting. I look forward to more about the mill.
Thanks Craig. I’m glad the story is interesting. There’s definitely more to come, and we’ll also start to cover other Cape Cod tide mills. — Tim Richards
This is great.
Thanks Tricia — your help at the Truro Library made a big difference in getting this project off the ground. Tim
Enjoyed the article, well done.
Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it Paul. It is amazing how much there is to be learned about stories that have been lost from memory. Tim
Congratulations. I admire your care and hard work; I envy you the pleasure of your discovery. Keep searching!
Dear Grey, there is definitely pleasure in the discovery and thanks for the kind comment. Tim
Very interesting. I had a slightly similar experience in discovering about my ancestor’s tide mill in what is now New Hampshire (it was Massachusetts at the time). Look forward to reading further!
I am new to this. Now I have research to do on how a tide mill functions. Would it work on both an incoming and outgoing tide? Is the mill pond a natural feature or man made?
Hi Al, most traditional tide mills, like the one in Truro, only operated on the outgoing tide, when water was released from the pond. The dam was man-made in the 1780s, specifically to create a tidal pond for the mill. Tim
I am curious about how you determined that this mill in Truro was a tide mill and not a water mill. I checked the 1890 History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts by Simeon L. Deyo, thinking that this is the history you cited in your article. Deyo describes a number of windmills in Truro and a water mill south of the Pamet River, but I did not find any mention of a tide mill. The only tide mills mentioned in Deyo’s book were located in Eastham and Truro.
Hi Susan,
Great question about how we know it was a tide mill. The most important reason is that there is not enough fresh water flowing into Mill Pond to fill a pond and drive a mill. Also the tide rises to the level of the Mill Pond, so even if there were more fresh water, the operating hours of a non-tidal mill would have been roughly the same as a tide mill and with less power. A tide mill in that location, however, would be able to tap into plenty of tidal hydro power. My interpretation is that the term “water mill” used by Simeon L. Deyo and on some maps includes tide mills as well as mills on fresh water streams.
You’re right that the history I referenced is Deyo’s. It turns out that the same language on the mills of Truro appears in “History of Plymouth County, MA with Biographical Sketches”
Compiled by Simeon D. Hamilton Hurd 1884
Retyped for the web by Barbara Pahlow
Thanks for the question, Tim Richards
Thanks Joe. As we go forward with more details about the Truro mill, I’d enjoy hearing how it compares with what you know about your family’s tide mill in NH. Tim
Tim,
It was fascinating, full of facts, and easy to read. Well done! Admittedly knowing nothing further about the topic, my random thought may not be relevant. I wondered how mill ponds might factor in to preservation of wildlife habitats and how they may be impacted by geowarming and rising oceans. I look forward to your next post.
Carol
Great thoughts and questions Carol.
The former mill pond is definitely a prime wildlife habitat. We see geese, ducks, osprey, kingfishers, a variety of fish, foxes and (once) otters in and around the pond. It is an unusual eco-system though, because between 1873 and about 1990 a railway bed blocked salt water from entering the creek and pond. A storm that coincided with a high tide eventually broke through the railway bed, so the area is now salt water again. There is an effort underway to allow still more tidal flow beneath Mill Pond Road and into the pond, but I have not yet seen details on that plan.
As to rising sea levels, the issue is of considerable concern to the town. Last year the town added new rip rap boulders along the edge of Mill Pond Road in an effort to stop erosion under the road (which is on top of the old dam.)
Thanks for asking! Tim
Dave Foster checking in:
Congratulations, Tim on your research and excellent writing on an important part of the local history of Cape Cod, and more specifically the region of Cape Cod that has been a big part of your life from childhood. Experiencing the inner feeling of Cape Cod during all my visits there has always been spiritual to me. After one of my visits ( several years ago)…I was inspired to read a little of the history of Cape Cod. ( The one book I remember reading was Titled : “The Enduring Shore: A history of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket)….by Paul Schneider. ……clearly The Cape is a spiritual place.. and its history can be felt today….I know that Cape Cod today…was indeed influenced by the ice age….and refined since then by storms…tides….many other influences particular to Cape Cod’s ecosystem.
I do have a few questions of Tim and any others: Any book recommendations that deal more specifically to the Northern area of Cape Cod?
The tides are fascinating: I remember being mesmerized by watching the Tidal Bore…in the Bay of Fundy…(between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick)….while on a trip to Prince Edward Island.)
…..Some areas are known for stronger tide influences than others: How strong in relative terms to other areas of the earth nest to oceans are the tides in northern Cape Cod. Any historical impacts to northern Cape Cod due to the tides other the tide mills?
Any interest in actually creating a working tide mill in northern Cape Cod…and finding out first hand how effective they are. (How challenging a project would that be?)
There are so many amazing facets to all the makes up what Cape Cod has been..since the glaciers came and went..and is today….I hope that your passionate research in the “Tide Mill’s” part of Cape Cod in the region of your home in Truro…continues…and leads to a continuing journey that you share with us.
Wow Dave. That is quite a set of comments and questions! I’m glad you found the story interesting (and I agree that there is a spirituality about the Outer Cape… a special light, a unique history packed into a two mile wide strip of sand 25 miles out to sea on the eastern edge of the United States.
A few book recommendations for you:
For the natural history of the Cape, there’s a great and relatively new book by Patrick J. Lynch called A Field Guide to Cape Cod : Including Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Block Island, and Eastern Long Island
The best book I’ve read on Tides is called “Tides. The Science and Spirit of the Ocean”. It turns out that there is much more to tides than I ever knew and the book has an entire chapter on tidal bores.
For the Outer Cape there are many great books. The original classic is Henry David Thoreau’s Cape Cod, which mainly covers the Wellfleet, Truro, Provincetown area. You might also enjoy Henry Beston’s The Outermost House about the author’s winter in a small, isolated cottage on the edge of the ocean beach in Eastham.
We may not be able to recreate a working tide mill in Truro (at least not now) but maybe an historical marker…
Thanks again Dave,
Tim
the historical marker idea is worth pursuing; surely you would have a great deal of support from the residents of the Truo area. hopefully in a future “piece” you can write on the requirements of gaining approval for a historical marker at the location of the old tide mill site.
Thanks for the idea Dave.
Tidal Waters was written by three fellow members of the Board of Friends of Herring River in Wellfleet and Truro. On Amazon. Also John T. Cumbler’s book “Cape Cod: An Environmental History “. Both are very on point to your query.
Thanks Lisbeth. I just ordered the Tidal Water book myself. And you did a great job with your Hopper webinar for the Truro Historical Society. Tim Richards
So fun to be discovering the local history of your home there on the Cape. Learning about the lives of those who lived before us in our own communities, makes our time even more precious and interesting. I too have begun to read and learn about the history of our mountain community here in Colorado; you have inspired me to continue to pursue this.
Thanks Amy. Cape Cod and the mountains of Colorado are far apart but the pleasure in uncovering stories of the past can be the same everywhere. Tim
I never stopped to think why the main road near my house in Newburyport, MA, was called Curzon Mill Road. But after researching the area for a novel I am writing, now I know: the old tide mill! For years I have passed by it several times a week on my walks, crossing the old wooden footbridge over the Artichoke and up through the Emery House property owned by Society of St. John the Evangelist. And I never knew what I always thought to be a plain old private residence, held such history.
This is all so interesting. Thanks for being a resource!
Hi Michelle, it is great to hear about your discovery of the Curzon Mill in Newburyport. Is the original mill building incorporated into a house or is the original building freestanding? Now anyone reading the TMI website will want to know if the mill will play a role in your novel! — Tim
It’s always fun for me to look back and imagine how people lived. Thanks for the glimpse backward. So nicely written too!
Just catching up here. I find myself really wanting to see tangible relics of the mill, beyond the beautiful millstone. Wonder whether a local (or not local) university would want to do some archeological exploration?
Thanks Sue – one enjoyable thing about looking backward once in awhile is discovering records and clues, and piecing them together into a story. Glad you enjoyed the short tour! Tim
Hi Jenny, a dig could certainly be exciting, and Bob Gordon (with whom I am working on the power output calculations) had a similar thought. I checked Cape Cod Community College’s catalog but sadly they don’t offer archaeology. Of course Providence and Boston aren’t far away. Tim