Alison Simcox & Douglas Heath — Water Wheels and Water Wars on Spot Pond Brook

Alison Simcox & Douglas Heath

One of the earliest mill villages in the Massachusetts Bay Colony formed along Spot Pond Brook, a few miles north of Boston. Thomas Coytmore, a sea captain, built the first mill in 1640 at the brook’s downstream end in “Mistick Side” (Malden). Over time, other mills sprang up along the brook in Charlestown End (Stoneham). From 1696 to about 1800, there were legal battles and even armed conflicts over water rights, many of which involved generations of the Sprague family, who controlled the dam at the head of Spot Pond Brook. In this session, Alison Simcox and Douglas Heath will bring to life the settings and characters involved in some of the first battles over water rights in the United States.