In 1831 miller John Cary gained the right of first water at the powerful Bellows Falls and built this substantial gable-front gristmill on the west side of the Connecticut River. At grade, it is one-and-a-half stories of wood frame with a large monitor, atop a raised stone first story. On the rear, facing the river, the mill is stone with two stories below grade. When the Adams family acquired the mill in 1875, they built a brick, shed-roofed addition for offices and storage and upgraded the sorting and grinding machinery. Unlike many late-nineteenth-century gristmills, this one successfully switched to electric power, possibly because it is located next to a hydro-electric facility. The Adamses ran the mill continuously until the mid-1960s, when its present owner, New England Power, acquired it. Today the Bellows Falls Historical Society uses the mill as their museum.