The Pease/Comstock Mill in Stockbridge still survives, although its undershot water wheel is gone. Set back from Yale Hill Road, it is easier to glimpse from the view shown when the trees along East Main Street are bare. This mill should not be confused with the better-known Duryea Mill situated towards the top of Yale Hill.
In the late 1700s and well into the 1800s, this area was a busy, industrial location. The steep drop in elevation of Kampoosa Brook provided the power needed for at least five saw, planing, and grist mills. The neighborhood also included a tannery, wagon maker, machine shop, linseed oil mill, cider mill, tobacco factory, and lumber yard. Records are unclear regarding the construction of the mill shown here. It was likely in place circa 1820, owned by Phineas Pease and later Sanford Comstock. A few records state that a previous grist mill was built here by Ephraim Williams before 1745. But according to local historian Joshua Hall, there is a 1795 map that shows no mills on this site.
An additional vintage view of the mill is shown below, along with a present-day view.
