Did you know the first permanent settler of Stony Brook is believed to be John Fay, who arrived as a young man and first lodged with the Bent family in Marlborough? By the early 1680s, his father, David Fay, had built him a home near Bent’s Stony Brook mills—planting the roots of what would become a growing community.

Throughout the late 1600s, other Marlborough families—like the Johnsons, Brighams, Newtons, and Wards—began establishing homesteads in the area. In 1688, Mary Johnson and her husband, John Mathis (Matthews), settled in the western part of Stony Brook. Their home later became the area’s official garrison house, a crucial refuge during times of danger.

By 1695, Stony Brook was quickly expanding. Three of Marlborough’s twenty-six designated garrison houses stood right here, and due to ongoing threats of attack, a blockhouse was even built on the hill between the Stony Brook mill and the Sudbury River.

From scattered homesteads to a fortified early settlement—Stony Brook’s beginnings are full of resilience and community.

Source: Southborough Town Clerk’s Office Municipal Archive