Roslyn Grist Mill
Village of Roslyn, Nassau County, New York
Marker Inscription
BUILT BETWEEN 1715-1741, THIS RARE SURVING DUTCH-FRAMED WATERMILL OPERATED FOR OVER 150 YEARS. SERVED AS A TEA HOUSE 1920-1974.
Erected by William G. Pomeroy Foundation
The Story
When Dutch and English settlers were carving farms out of colonial Long Island, a mill was the beating heart of a village—the place where a community's grain became its daily bread. This water-powered gristmill, timber-framed in the sturdy Dutch tradition between 1715 and 1741, ground meal for the surrounding countryside for more than a century and a half. After its milling days ended, the building found a gentle second life as a tea house from 1920 to 1974, welcoming visitors rather than farmers. Its survival makes it a genuine rarity among early American industrial buildings.
Why it matters
Colonial gristmills were the essential infrastructure of early American life, and few of these Dutch-framed watermills still stand—making this a tangible link to the working economy of pre-Revolutionary Long Island.
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Themes & tags
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