Old Schwamb Mill

The Old Schwamb Mill is historic 19th-century mill at 17 Mill Lane in Arlington, Massachusetts. It claims to be located on the oldest continuously-used mill site in the United States, with a documented history of operation dating back to about 1684. The current mill building, erected in 1861, is now a living history museum. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.Description and historyThe Schwamb Mill is set on the south side of Mill Brook, a body of water flowing roughly east-west and bisecting the western half of the town of Arlington. The main mill building is a roughly U-shaped structure, which rises to a height of three stories at the south-facing front, but is sited on land that drops steeply to the stream below. It is finished in clapboard siding, and most of its roofs are flat, with the transverse portion of the U gabled. Across Mill Lane to the north stand a pair of connected buildings, which were historically used as a wood drying house and storage barn.The Massachusetts Bay Colony was first settled by Europeans in large numbers beginning in 1630, and the area that is now Arlington ((HAER) MASS, 9-ARL, 4-, Old Schwamb Mill, Stuart Campbell (historian) and Richard K. Anderson, Jr., (photographer