About Us
Nestled along the banks of the Queen's River in the hamlet of Usquepaugh, Kenyon's Grist Mill is the oldest manufacturing business in Rhode Island, and the second oldest continuously operating business in the state. (Click here to find out which business in Rhode Island is the oldest since 1673). Although our current building dates back to 1886, we've been grinding meals & flours continuously on site since 1696. Our single pass stone grinding process is between two, very large Westerly, Rhode Island granite millstones. This method of grinding continues to withstand the test of time to be the health conscious choice. To order online, click here.
We have always been available for milling farmer's grain into meal or flour, a tradition that the Drumm family has proudly upheld. Throughout the years, we have supported local farms and have ground native grains when available, such as the rare crop of Rhode Island Flint corn. Although we try very hard to purchase our grains as local as possible, it is also important to consider the farming methods used. As always, we do not use, or source grain with any additives, pesticides or preservatives.
Kenyon's Grist Mill is regularly inspected by the Rhode Island Department of Health and the FDA. This qualifies us to ship throughout the country and stand behind our products' excellence. Customers have sought Kenyon's products for generations because of our honesty, dependability, and high standards. We pride ourselves in doing business the right way and feel honored to be preserving a piece of Rhode Island's history.
2012 Winter/Spring Hours
Our hours of operation for the mill and shop are Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. until April 13. The shop will be open again on weekends from April 14 through December 30. For directions to the mill and shop, click here.
2012 Tours and Events
We love giving tours because it allows us the opportunity to have one-on-one conversations, answer questions and show our proud culinary renaissance, heritage and tradition with a personal touch. Unfortunately, since we are a small, but commercial business, we are always balancing mill grinding, office work, and customer service, and have limited time for tours. When providing a tour, we like to give it our all, so we try to limit ourselves to private, scheduled bus groups from April through August. If you are a bus tour operator who would like to learn more information about the mill, click here. For customers, families and history enthusiasts, we offer public tours during one of our three annual events in May, July and the original Johnny Cake Festival in October. To learn more about our events, click here. For a video tour of the grist mill, click here. We also travel around New England during the summer months...serving our Clam Cakes and Chowder at Community Fairs.
