By:Leslie Gonzalez
Grist millstones gifted to E. Rockaway museum
At first glance, it's merely a stone path leading to an older Lynbrook home, but ask local historian Bob Sympson, and he will tell you two pairs of long-lost grist millstones cobble the path.
The stones were uncovered when an old porch was removed from a property on Union Avenue in Lynbrook. Homeowner Cindy Hariu, a 17-year resident, said her family will donate one pair to the East Rockaway Grist Mill Museum. The second pair was broken before Hariu realized their historical significance.
Millstones were the heart of a colonial grist mill, which ground wheat or corn into flour. Grist mills were the area's economic sustenance in colonial days, making the recent find a conquest for those who document that period.
The stones worked in pairs: The top, or runner stone, had a hole in the center through which grain was fed. It turned on a spindle as the bottom, or bedstone, remained stationary. Grain crushed between the two stones exited the sides.
Where the stones came from, we had absolutely no idea. I had plants surrounding them,said Hariu, whose grandparents Peter and Jenny Behrendt purchased the property in 1938. At that time, the house was known to be at least 150 years old.
Mary Gipson, president of the Friends of East Rockaway Grist Mill, called the find a thrill of a lifetime.
We had heard that the millstones were on somebody's porch, but we had no idea where they were,she said. Marilyn Scordato, Hariu's backyard neighbor, knew about the stones and notified Sympson about two years ago. After viewing three that led to a seldom-used doorway, and knowing that they were used in pairs, Sympson asked Hariu about the existence of a fourth.
I informed him that yes, there was [a fourth], and I had taken it apart for a rock garden, and the look on his face was if I had just murdered somebody,said Hariu.
Fortunately, when her husband wanted to remove them this spring, Hariu remembered Sympson and his interest in the stones, and called him first.
Hariu recently sat with Sympson and Gipson to discuss the property's ownership history. Several documents deeded the property back to 1837. The land once a 6-acre parcel, bordered the Higbie property, which Sympson said belonged to the Davison family. Betsy Davison, a member of the Friends' board of directors, is the granddaughter of the East Rockaway mill's last owner..
We don't know where these millstones came from, but certainly, the Haviland-Davison Mill is the closest point,Sympson said. Officials from East Rockaway, which owns the museum, agreed to accept the stones, which will probably be transferred within the next two weeks.
Carolyn Ferretti, director of the East Rockaway Grist Mill Museum, said although they don't know if the stones came from that mill, the new addition will at least allow children and other visitors to see what millstones looked like.
The original stones (from the East Rockaway mill) are in the Mill River,she said. We've sought professional divers to try and retrieve them, but the company recommended against it due to the swift, rushing waters.
Based on the stones' geological composition and size, Sympson believes they were French mill stones. By the 1750s, French stone had become very popular with colonial millers, particularly those engaged in exporting, because the stone enabled them to produce high-quality flour comparable to that produced by European mills, and the stones were highly durable.
The centuries-old technology was a science of precision. Millstones, which weighed at least a ton apiece, had to be about one-sixteenth of an inch away from each other, and balanced, yet millers had the capability of turning a crank on the floor below to make minute adjustments to grind corn.
Sympson numerically marked the fragile stones, which will be carefully removed from Hariu's home by a local contractor. The third stone, which is incomplete, will join the fourth in Hariu's backyard garden.
