The Lost Mill Village of Middlesex Fells - Paperback

by Douglas L. Heath (Author), Alison C. Simcox (Author)

One of the earliest mill communities in the Massachusetts Bay Colony formed along Spot Pond Brook, a few miles north of Boston. Thomas Coytmore built the first mill in 1640 at the brook's downstream end in Mistick Side (present-day Malden). Other mills sprang up along the brook as well. Today, most of Spot Pond Brook is hidden in culverts beneath the busy streets of Malden and Melrose. However, remnants of the lost mill village of Haywardville--foundations, millruns and ponds and waterfalls--are preserved within Middlesex Fells Reservation, part of Boston's world-famous Metropolitan Park System. Authors Douglas L. Heath and Alison C. Simcox trace the history of this thriving early American community.

Author Biography

Douglas Heath was born in New Jersey and grew up in Taos, New Mexico, and New York City. He worked as a hydrogeologist at the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for thirty years, where he specialized in protecting drinking water supplies in New England. As well as his work as a scientist, he is an experienced genealogist, local historian and photographer in using nineteenth-century glass plate methods. Alison Simcox was born in London, England, and grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts. In 1998, she was the second woman to earn a doctorate in engineering from Tufts University. She currently works in EPA's air quality program as a specialist in particle pollution and biomass energy. In her free time, she enjoys playing soccer, bicycling, running and ocean kayaking.