Returning to Wareham’s early industries finds us at Isaac Bumpus’s grist mill. Did you know he built his first grist mill to grind locally grown grain around 1686-1690 on the Wankinco River on the site of the present Tremont Nail Company? Known as “Bump the Miller,” he also had a sawmill on the Weweantic River. Other grist and saw mills were built using the rivers to provide water power and to supply wood for home and ship building and flour for baking.

The first cotton mill of record was built on the Wankinco River before 1812 on Benjamin Fearing’s dam. Also located at the site of the Tremont Nail Factory, this is the same cotton mill the British tried to burn down during the War of 1812 by militia from the HMS Nimrod. The building was repaired and continued to produce cotton cloth. In 1823, Benjamin Lincoln built a cotton mill on the Weweantic River with the latest technology. The mill was eventually bought by Ezra Thompson and Company in 1830, but it was only in operation for a few years. Wareham was indeed an “industrious” town.