Falling for New England: Longfellow's Wayside Inn Grist Mill

This holiday season, when you reach for that package of Pepperidge Farm stuffing, frozen puff pastry, cake or cookies to prepare for your Thanksgiving dinner, take a close look at the logo. Do you see what I see? 

You're looking at the Wayside Inn Grist Mill. From 1952 to 1967, it produced stone-ground whole wheat flour to Pepperidge Farm for the company's products. The mill is still in operation today, producing 5-15 tons of flour a year for the gift shop and the restaurant at Wayside Inn.

Longfellow's Wayside Inn Grist Mill

Longfellow's Wayside Inn, the oldest operating inn in the United States

Wayside Inn's Grist Mill is located in Sudbury, Massachusetts, where the captain used to work years ago. We stopped by the last weekend of October, in the hope of seeing some fall foliage before we left town. 

Nice reflection of the grist mill, but foliage was past peak.

Fall color is much better in 2015, when this and the next picture were
 taken, also in late Oct.

a pair of pretty swans frolicking in the pond

This place is a magnet for taking pictures. We saw two wedding parties and many families dressed in holiday clothes (pictures for holiday cards, we presume) as we ambled around the property.

A wedding party making their way to the grist mill

Did you know? 

I learned so much about the company's history writing this blog post! Margaret Rudkin, the founder of Pepperidge Farm was quite an entrepreneur, acquiring many companies over the years. She sold Pepperidge Farm to Campbell Soup in 1961, and became the first woman to serve on the Campbell Soup board.  I'm a die-hard fan of the Puff Pastry product, and now I'm a fan of the remarkable founder as well. Read the rest of her story here.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

This post is shared on Weekend Reflections, Through My Lens and Our World Tuesday.

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