Running a piece of history, the Stony Brook Grist Mill

Marianne Lenzner can easily say she has one of the most unusual jobs on Long Island, and there are few who would dispute her. She hits the "unlikely" meter twice:

She's a miller.

And millers weren't female.

On Sundays, she runs the Stony Brook Grist Mill, an experience that has given her a greater appreciation for today's conveniences.

Work behind muffins
"Since we all get our muffins from Starbucks or the deli, we don't realize how hard people had to work for their food back then," says Lenzner, 44, who lives in Stony Brook. "If you wanted a muffin back then, you had to plan to make a muffin."

The average 17th-century cook would have had a lot on her plate. For example: Did you have flour? If not, you'd need to load up the wagon with grain to take to the miller, wait in line to unload it at the mill. Then wait for your grain to be milled, load it back on the wagon and drive home before you could begin mixing a drop of batter.

Of course, she'd have been the person making the muffin, not grinding the grain.

"Women didn't work the mills," says Lenzner. "The husband owned the mill, and his sons would have worked in it, if they weren't home working the farm. The wife was caring for the children, the home and cooking."

And the miller likely would have been the richest person in town.

"Wherever a mill went up, a town grew around it," says Lenzner. "Everyone had to deal with the miller. You either brought your grain to him and paid him a percentage, usually 10 percent, to get your grain milled, or if you didn't have your own grain, you'd buy from him." 

Starting as a volunteer
Lenzner, a registered nurse, started at the mill in 1999 as a volunteer docent. The mill is owned and operated by the Ward Melville Heritage Organization.

Now she runs the mill on Sundays with the help of daughter Amanda Giattino, 14, who runs the mill store that sells cracked corn for animals, candy and souvenirs, along with flour from an out-of-state mill.

Each Sunday, Lenzner takes visitors on a tour, from the large paddle wheel outside up to the top floor to see the hoppers where corn, wheat, barley and oat were stored and fed into the machinery that would grind the grains into either meal or flour.

Grinding is accomplished by two 4-foot-wide stones that are driven by the waterwheel, connected by gears and wheels.

A miller and his assistant or miller-in-training would have taken in the grain, inventoried each order, then ground it to a customer's specifications. The assistant, typically covered in dust and thus called "Dusty," was the heavy lifter who hauled sacks of grains up two flights to the top of the mill. There, the miller could feed it into the hopper, which delivered it to the stacked grindstones that turned whole kernels and grains into flour and corn meal. 

Life along the gristmill
Lenzner starts the tour by pointing out the wildlife that lives in and along the pond at the gristmill, including black-crowned night herons, ducks and egrets. She'll explain what a tidal pool is, how the gate of the sluice, or canal, is raised or lowered to control the speed of the water that propels the waterwheel and how a mill's production was a function of the amount of daylight.

Candles couldn't be used because the grain dust was highly combustible. "The miller worked from dawn to dusk," she says.

And she'll explain how wagons backed up to the mill's lower windows and pushed 100-pound bags of grain through - and how the miller's job would have improved immensely in the mid-1850s when a grain elevator was installed.

That meant no more lugging heavy sacks up three flights. The elevator -- a chain-and-scoop system that carried grain up to the top-floor hopper -- was powered by the same wheel that ran the grindstones. 

Ward Melville was here
The mill, built in 1699, was rebuilt in its present location in 1751, after the original was destroyed by a storm that broke the dam, causing the mill to collapse. It was last operated for profit in 1952, when it sold flour by mail order.

It was owned by Ward Melville, one of Long Island's best-known businessmen and philanthropists, who bought it in 1947.

Today the mill produces only cracked corn for animal feed because the FDA prohibits the use of wood-to-wood or wood-to-metal processes in the milling of grain for human consumption.

A recent visitor, Setauket's Karl Soder, 23, said his favorite part of the visit was "seeing how the wheel works, that someone could figure all this out to make it work. It is so peaceful and serene I just like to stand here and listen."

The mill "sings to you," says Lenzner. "Every stone, piece of machinery and piece of wood has a sound all its own."

She agrees it's a place of tranquillity. "It is my peace and serenity to come here each Sunday," she says.

Continuum of history
As for its centuries of existence: "I'm running a piece of history here. That's something that few people get to do."

For daughter Amanda "the history here is phenomenal. There's even a beam where Ward Melville carved his initials."

Lenzner says George Washington "wasn't even born when the first building went up.

"We had a guy who came to the mill to visit who was about 80 years old and had been brought there by his dad when he was 5. When he walked into the mill, his face lit up. It took him back to that time with his father and he was so happy.

"He did tell me he didn't remember it being as clean as it is now."