• contact
|
• directions
|
• calendar

•        
• Home
• History
• The Mill
• Teacher's Page
• Links
• Tours

• The Grinding Process
• Cleaning The Stones
• Herring Run

A Balanced Eco-system

...the 17th Century way

Not only did Town Brook supply fresh water and waterpower to the plantation, it also delivered fertilizer to the Pilgrims. Pilgrim fertilizer is a fish called herring or alewife. Herring are fish that live in the ocean but spawn in fresh water.

From the middle of April to the middle of May the herring migrate from the ocean, up Town Brook, to the fresh water ponds to lay their eggs. As they go up stream they go through a small canal called a fish ladder that allows them to pass the mill. As they entered the fish ladder the Native Americans would catch the fish to use as fertilizer to enrich the sandy Plymouth soil, a practice that has continued through the years.