Grist Mill

288 Old Mill Road

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East Arlington Village Historic District

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Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), June 20, 2026

1. Grist Mill Marker

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Lying in a narrow valley drained by the confluent Warm Brook and Peter's Branch, the East Arlington Village Historic District coincides with the historic extent of the small nineteenth-century village containing 157 contributing buildings and structures together with a factory complex; 53 buildings and structures are considered noncontributing to the character of the historic district. The village possesses an irregular pattern of seven streets with varying densities of development and some open spaces (but not a public common). The mostly gable-roofed buildings

Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), June 20, 2026

2. The Grist Mill building, currently home to a recording studio

include examples of industrial, commercial, religious, and agricultural types that generally complement the scale of the overwhelmingly dominant residential. Only a few architectural styles are represented; the Greek Revival predominates while the Federal, Italianate, Queen Anne, and Colonial Revival appear mostly in the manner of decorative features applied to preponderantly vernacular expressions. The buildings are almost universally wood-framed although synthetic sidings have been applied to a large proportion over their original wood sheathing. The historic district retains a relatively high degree of integrity in regard to location, setting, design, workmanship, feeling, and association.

The natural setting of the East Arlington Village Historic District takes the form of the narrow valley of Warm Brook flanked along the east and west sides by rounded knolls and low hills. The relatively flat valley bottom lies generally at an elevation of about 720 feet while the hills rise only some 300 feet above that level. Warm Brook follows a gentle gradient along its northward course through the valley. A tributary, Peter's Branch passes

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through a gap in the hills on the east side, and, immediately inside the boundary between Sunderland and Arlington townships, cascades over exposed bedrock to join Warm Brook on the west side of the valley. These cascades were the site of the first industrial activity (a grist mill) and the original focus of the village.

42. Grist Mill (Old Mill Road); c.1800?, c.1860
Although converted to a candle store, the former grist mill retains essentially intact its historic exterior appearance. The building consists of two clapboarded blocks, the one-and-one- half-story, gable-front original block and a two-and-one-half-story west ell block that was added possibly about 1860. Both blocks gain an additional story on their rear (south) facades where their rubble basement walls are fully exposed next to the north bank of Peter's Brook. The gable roofs are now covered with asphalt shingles, replacing historic standing-seam sheet metal. A boxed cornice with gable returns follows all the eaves. An interior concrete-block chimney straddles the west end of the ell's ridge, and an exterior concrete-block chimney has been added to the east eaves facade.

The three-bay main (north) facade is arranged symmetrically around a central entrance that retains the historic double-leaf, vertical-plank, hinged doors. Exterior wood-plank steps matching the width of the doorway have replaced the historic full-length plank loading dock with steps at each end. Directly above the entrance, a vertical-plank door provides freight access to the second story; a cylindrical roller mounted on its lintel prevented abrasion of the hoist rope. The triangular support for the hoist projects from the gable peak. The window openings are fitted with twelve-over-twelve sash and plain surrounds.

The east eaves facade has been altered in its fenestration. Triplet six-over-six sash have been installed next to the left corner at ground level below a vertical plate-glass window on the main level. Side-by-side, six-light fixed sash occupy the left-center position on the main level.

The three-by-four-bay west ell is recessed from the main block's north facade and flush with the rear facade. The ell's three-bay north eaves facade includes a central entrance on both stories; each has a single-leaf, hinged door with two tiers of three vertical panels. A hoist beam projects from the wall directly above the second-story entrance, sheltered by a small gable at the eaves. The window openings are fitted with the six-over-six sash and plain surrounds common to the ell. The ell's roof rises higher than that of the main block, such that its east gable peak surmounts the main ridge and is lighted by a twelve-over-twelve sash. A one-bay shed dormer has been added to the ell's south roof slope.

A grist mill has existed on this site since about 1765, when Remember Baker built the first mill in Arlington township. The Baker mill burned in 1789, and was replaced by another. It is not known whether the extant building incorporates any part of the second mill. The grinding of grain and feed continued in this mill until the 1920s during the ownership of Horace Lawrence. Subsequently the building has been used for other purposes. It was converted to its present use in the early 1960s by Thomas and Barbara Weakley as the focus of the so-called Candle Mill Village commercial complex...

Historic photographs show the structures that delivered water from Peter's Branch to power the mill. A log-crib dam existed at the crest of the cascades southeast of the building. An intake structure at the north end of the dam diverted water into a cylindrical flume built of longitudinal planks and iron hoops. The flume extended along the north stream bank to the southeast corner of the mill, apparently entering an opening in its stone foundation. The dam, intake structure, and flume have subsequently been either destroyed by flooding or removed.