The village of Waterdown was developed upon land originally granted to Alexander McDonnell in 1796. In 1805, a sawmill was built at the falls on Grindstone Creek. This creek provided power for the endeavours of the early pioneers and thus the Village of Waterdown was born. It became the site of saw, grist and flour mills, a woollen mill, brass foundry, tanneries, rake, snaith, cradle, and basket factories.

Waterdown was incorporated as a Village in 1878 but a series of fires and a decrease in the water power of Grindstone Creek heralded the decline of the town's importance as an industrial centre.

Today the Grindstone Creek swiftly flows into Smokey Hollow and over the Great Falls. Few clues remain to suggest that this stream was once so large and powerful that it supplied numerous mills, such as the historic old mill shown here. Waterdown's auspicious location on the beautiful Niagara escarpment, however, fueled a revival as tourists and conservationists re-discovered the area.

Much of Waterdown's early growth was shaped by the pioneering Griffin family, namely Ebenezer and his brother Absalom. The original cottage, built in 1815, was expanded in the 1890s by noted architect, Stanford White, and renovated again in 1990 when Jim and Joanne Baxter purchased the property.