Farming and Mills in Old Sherborn

Created by Jan Burruss

Farming and Cranberry Cultivation

Since earliest European settlment, Sherborn was a farming community. In the 17th century, people grew or made almost everything they needed on their farms. Later, as the population of the town increased and as the products made in the Colonies increased in number and availability, farmers could buy more of what they needed. This allowed some farmers to choose to specialize in a particular type of crop. Dairy cows, eggs, apples, and cranberries were all specialty crops grown in Sherborn in the 19th century.

Sherborn's swamps and bogs provided ideal conditions for growing cranberries. In 1870, at least eight farmers were cultivating this valuable crop. At harvest time, a worker could rake from one to two barrels of cranberries in a day, for a total of about one hundred barrels a season. At $28.00 per barrel, this was a way to make good money. After they were picked up at the Depot, barrels of Sherborn cranberries were shipped by train throughout New England.

Milk, Apples, and Cider

Some farms in Sherborn specialized in dairy. These farmers carried huge cans of milk down to the Depot to ship out on the early morning milk trains. About 200 cans a day were shipped by railroad out of the central Depot in town. A milk shed was used to hold the cans until the train arrived. Since Thomas Holbrook planted the first orchard in Sherborn back in the 17th century, Sherborn has grown apples. In 1750, the Porter apple was actually developed here in Sherborn. It is a sweet, medium-size, yellow apple. Many of Sherborn’s apples were used to make cider, as well. In 1870, there were 20 small cider mills around town. The trains could bring apples from outside of Sherborn to supply all the mills.

Milk Train, Milk Cans Porter Apple

Train Depot

Grist Mills

About 1710, Captain Joseph Morse of 46 Forest Street and Joseph Ware built a grist mill on Sewell Brook across the road from Ware’s house at 43 Goulding Street. Captain Ware had a slave named Duty who was an excellent miller.

In the early 19th century, Jonathan Holbrook built a dam across Sewell Brook near his Forest Street home. He built a building that housed a grist mill, at first. Then, in 1853, Holbrook began refining cider in part of the building. Later he built a larger building down the road.

The old grist mill and dam were torn down in the 1890s. One of the grinding wheels from this mill is on display in front of Town Hall.

Holbrook Mill, Forest Street

Water Wheel Grinding Stone

Saw Mills

Water power was also used to saw up the abundant trees into lumber to be used in building. In the 17th century, Thomas Sawin built the first sawmill in Sherborn on Course Brook near Brush Hill Road. This mill provided the wood for the first meetinghouse. Later, Sawin moved to Natick, where he had a grist mill for the Native Americans. Isaac Cozzens had his sawmill in about the same place on Course Brook in the middle 1880s.

James Leland built a dam across the Brown Meadow Brook. Behind the dam, Mill Pond formed. Water power from this pond ran a mill that Leland built across the brook near Mill Street. Several generations of Lelands operated this mill until it burned down in 1920. After that, the Lelands built a new electric mill.

On the upper dam of Mill Pond, Alex Barker built his small mill for the manufacture of trunnels, or tree nails, used in old mortise and tenon construction.

Leland Mill

Trunnels

Saw Mills

The Wares built a mill on Sewell Brook near Goulding Street. The foundation of this mill is still visible near where the railroad tracks cross Goulding Street.

Remains of Ware Mill, Goulding Street