Alison Simcox & Douglas Heath
Water Wheels and Water Wars on Spot Pond Brook
One of the earliest mill villages in the Massachusetts Bay Colony formed along Spot Pond Brook, a few miles north of Boston. Thomas Coytmore, a sea captain, built the first mill in 1640 at the brook’s downstream end in “Mistick Side” (Malden). Over time, other mills sprang up along the brook in Charlestown End (Stoneham). From 1696 to about 1800, there were legal battles and even armed conflicts over water rights, many of which involved generations of the Sprague family, who controlled the dam at the head of Spot Pond Brook. In this session, Alison Simcox and Douglas Heath will bring to life the settings and characters involved in some of the first battles over water rights in the United States.
Alison Simcox, PhD, is an environmental scientist, local historian, and author. She received a doctorate from Tufts University in environmental engineering (the second woman to do so) and works at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) specializing in air quality, both in the US and Southeast Asia. She and Douglas Heath have written five books on the history of Boston’s North Shore, published by Arcadia Publishing and The History Press. In 2022, the Friends of Lake Quannapowitt awarded Simcox and Heath their prestigious “Gertrude Spaulding Award” for their contributions to educating the public on local history and the environment.
Douglas Heath, MS, is a hydrogeologist and local historian who formerly worked at EPA specializing in drinking water in New England. He is Vice President of the Saugus River Watershed Council and a certified Interpretive Guide for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). He and Alison have co-authored five books and are working on a sixth. They have been public speakers for 13 years at historical societies, museums, libraries, and book stores throughout the Boston area.
