In 1640 Isaac Stedman dammed First Herring Brook and, beside the pond thus formed, built the first water-driven grist mill in the old colony. Owned and operated by the Stockbridge and Clapp families until 1922, the mill became famous in 1817 through Samuel Woodworth’s poem “The Old Oaken Bucket.” In 1922 the Clapp family deeded it to the Scituate Historical Society, and in 1970 it was restored to its original working condition.