The Grain House Celebrates 250th Anniversary

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — The Grain House at the Olde Mill Inn in Basking Ridge, built in 1768 is celebrating its 250th anniversary.

In 1768, Samuel Lewis, a miller from Franklin Corners in Bernards Township, built a water-powered grist mill and a barn on the Passaic River on land originally acquired from William Penn, according to The Historical Society Of The Somerset Hills.

Lewis' grandson, Richard Southard, bought the property in 1777 and soon found that the convenient location along a major thoroughfare between New York and Philadelphia, so practical for commerce, placed him smack in the middle of the Revolutionary War, according to THSSH.

His small wooden mill supplied desperately needed flour, meal, and feed to the Continental Army encampment at Jockey Hollow, Morristown, during the bitter winter of 1779-80.

The property passed through several hands in the ensuing years and gradually fell into disrepair, but in 1928 it was restored by a famous restaurateur William Childs.

The mill was later moved across the road to the eastern side of Route 202 and restored again in 1930. In 1938, more than 100,000 people visited the restored mill, according to the THSSH.

To read the mill's full history by the THSSH click here.

(Image via THSSH)

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