1. Project History
The Stony Brook Grist Mill and Museum is located at 830 Stony Brook Road. The Grist Mill and surrounding property are owned by the Town of Brewster and are overseen by the Mill Sites Committee. The site dates to the 1600s and is on the National Registry of Historic Places. In addition, the Stony Brook and the Mill ponds are thriving fish spawning routes for alewife and blueback herring, as well as other migratory fish. The Stony Brook Mill site is divided east and west by Stony Brook - the “Herring Run” - and into north and south sections by Stony Brook Road.
The Lower Mill Pond dam was originally constructed to increase water levels in the pond for power for the Mill, as well as to provide passage for migratory fish into the headwater ponds. Lower Mill Pond is one of the five headwater ponds of the Stony Brook watershed, the spawning area for diadromous (migratory) fish. A water control device is installed in the dam to control water into the headrace pond which operates the mill. The dam was rehabilitated in 2013.
The retaining wall supporting the headrace pond is failing and is in danger of collapse. Some of the base stones are displaced, and the wall needs to be reconstructed in several sections. The wall forms the western side of the fish run.
The headrace pond is leaking through the retaining wall, which has led to its deterioration. To minimize the leakage, a liner will be placed in most of the headrace pond above the mill wheel, and the stone wall that lines the pond’s eastern side will be replaced.
In addition, the area of the seining pool where the overflow pipe is located will be reconstructed.
The Stony Brook fishway extends north of Stony Brook road for approximately 300 feet. This section contains 10 weirs and corresponding pools that vary in size and depth. The original design was evaluated by a fish passage expert and several deficiencies were identified. A new design for the weirs minimizes the elevation changes between pools, and divides the large pool into three new pools. Several new pools are planned in the northern section of the run, as well as replacement of the existing fish weirs.
