A fair amount has been written about Brouwer’s (or Freeke’s) tide mill, built sometime before 1661 on Gowanus Creek in what is now Brooklyn, N.Y. In Gowanus: Brooklyn’s Curious Canal, Joseph Alexiou calls it the earliest tide mill in New Netherland, which consisted of today’s New Jersey, southeastern New York and part of Connecticut. Its early date is reason enough for the attention the mill has received from historians. But it is also closely associated with the 1776 Battle of Brooklyn, when Washington’s Continental Army set it on fire to keep it out of British hands.
Anyone wanting to learn more about the mill’s history would do well to start with a report, “Brouwer’s or Freeke’s Mill,” just produced by Earl Taylor of the Tide Mill Institute. His report is brief but provides some history and several references to helpful books, articles, illustrations and maps. Most of these references are easily accessible on line via the links provided in the report.