Tag: mill

Categories
All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Bulkeley’s Millstream

Bulkeley's Millstream (Upper Dividend Falls on Dividend Brook, Dividend Pond Park & Archaeological Site, Rocky Hill, Connecticut)
“Bulkeley’s Millstream”
Upper Dividend Falls on Dividend Brook, Dividend Pond Park & Archaeological Site, Rocky Hill, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

In a shady gorge beneath the dense canopy of summertime woodlands, Dividend Brook leaps eagerly from a jagged cliff before meandering a half-mile eastward to unite with the vast Connecticut River.

Although industry has largely been divorced from a need for water power in modern times, there are few natural waterfalls in Connecticut that didn’t serve as mill sites at some point over the past four centuries. In many cases, these waterfalls drove streamside manufactories for several generations and churned out everything from flour to hand tools as the economy shifted and society’s needs changed. The falls on Dividend Brook are a perfect example, having been granted to Reverend Gershom Bulkeley for a grist mill back in 1665, only about 20 years after colonists settled in the Connecticut River Valley.

Dividend Downrush (Upper Dividend Falls on Dividend Brook, Dividend Pond Park & Archaeological Site, Rocky Hill, Connecticut)
“Dividend Downrush”
Upper Dividend Falls on Dividend Brook, Dividend Pond Park & Archaeological Site, Rocky Hill, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

The Reverend and his descendants operated mills at Dividend Brook for nearly 150 years, mostly churning out flour from the grain crops of community farmers. By 1830, when the millstream left the family’s hands, a new breed of industrialized millworkers were only just getting started. Axes, chisels, saws, horseshoes, flour, lumber, shears, firearms and bulk iron were produced along the stream during the remainder of the 19th century.

Purchase a Fine Art Print or Inquire About Licensing

Click here to visit my landing page for “Bulkeley’s Millstream” to buy a beautiful fine art print or inquire about licensing this image.

Want to See More?

Be sure to check out all of my work from Dividend Pond Park & Archaeological Site.

Categories
All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

A Millstone and Main’s Saw

Millstone and Main's Saw (Ledyard Up-down Sawmill, Sawmill Park, Ledyard, Connecticut)
“Millstone and Main’s Saw”
Ledyard Up-down Sawmill at Sawmill Park, Ledyard, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

Dark woodlands, growing ever more leaf-bare as October wanes, rise up behind an old, weather-beaten sawmill in southeastern Connecticut. Nearby, the keyed eye and carefully chiseled grooves of an ancient millstone serve to further recall the days when small, industrious, stream-side mills churned away at the heart of New England’s villages.

Perched beside the sluiceway of a two-acre millpond in the heart of Ledyard, the old Main Sawmill remarkably changed hands only twice since it was constructed in the 19th century. Built by the Brown family in 1877, it proved to be something of a financial failure and was transferred by foreclosure to the Main family in 1902. The Mains operated the mill occasionally until it was damaged by the Great Hurricane of 1938. By the 1960s, in recognition of its historical value, the antique sawmill was purchased by the town of Ledyard to be restored and preserved.

The mill saws logs by lifting and dropping a long, toothed blade along the cut axis, a system known colloquially as an “up-down” saw. Interestingly, the “up-down” design was considered outdated even when the mill was originally built in the 1870s! Why the Brown family neglected to build their mill with a more modern circular saw is anybody’s guess. In retrospect, though, that questionable decision has paid dividends by offering today’s generation a glimpse into sawmill technology that dates back even further than the mill itself!

Purchase a Fine Art Print or Inquire About Licensing

Click here to visit my landing page for “Millstone and Main’s Saw” to buy a beautiful fine art print or inquire about licensing this image.

Want to See More?

Be sure to check out all of my work from the Ledyard Up-down Sawmill and Sawmill Park.

Categories
All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Hopewell Relics

Hopewell Relics (Matson Hill Open Space, Glastonbury, Connecticut, USA)
“Hopewell Relics”
Matson Hill Open Space, Glastonbury, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

A towering smokestack rises above derelict masonry walls and empty window frames, all that’s left of the 19th-century Hopewell Woolen Mill. Morning light accentuates the angular ruins, imparting a subtle glow to the quiet meadows within where workers once busied about nearly 180 years earlier.

But while the Hopewell mill was built in the 1830s, these portions of its architecture weren’t visible quite like this until just a few years ago. The site was further developed by the mid-1800s just in time to begin turning out Civil War uniforms. Garments seem to have been the chief product for over a century until the old mill changed direction once again in 1956 in favor of manufacturing precision tools and jet engine components.

Despite storied, industrial successes at this old mill site on Roaring Brook, the property went vacant and was purchased by the town of Glastonbury in 2007. When it was slated to become a park, most all of the more recent factory additions were razed. Only the modest masonry and smokestack from the 1830s was left in place, skillfully carved out as if the site had been abandoned generations ago.

Purchase a Fine Art Print or Inquire About Licensing

Click here to visit my landing page for “Hopewell Relics” to buy a beautiful fine art print or inquire about licensing this image.

Want to See More?

Be sure to check out more of my work from Glastonbury.

Categories
All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Hiers’ Dream

Hiers' Dream (Mill in the Meadow, Granville, Massachusetts)
“Hiers’ Dream”
Mill in the Meadow, Granville, Massachusetts
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

Amidst an open meadow bounded by gentle hills and autumn woodlands, a rustic old mill nestles beneath the wind-jostled canopy of a lofty willow tree.

At first glance, this weathered curiosity seems to be an authentic, water-driven mill which would’ve been typical of villages across early New England. Indeed, one could be forgiven for believing that the “Mill in the Meadow” is a meticulously-restored, historical grist mill. Look closer, though, and you’ll notice that one critical component is missing: a brook to turn the water wheel!

That wouldn’t have surprised Ralph Hiers, though, the man who built this peculiar mill in an open field back in the 1970s. Although it was apparently designed to look centuries-old, the Mill in the Meadow is a relatively modern work of unusual, outdoor art. It’s not entirely without functionality, though! An electric pump is capable of drawing water from a nearby pond to animate the water wheel, a fact which makes this oddity all the more bizarre and wondrous.

Purchase a Fine Art Print or Inquire About Licensing

Click here to visit my landing page for “Hiers’ Dream” to buy a beautiful fine art print or inquire about licensing this image.

Want to See More?

Be sure to check out all of my work from the Mill in the Meadow.

Categories
All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Rings of Northgate

Rings of Northgate (Northgate Falls, Simsbury, Connecticut)
“Rings of Northgate”
Northgate Fall, Simsbury, Connecticut
© 2015 J. G. Coleman

In my latest piece, “Rings of Northgate”, foam churns away at the foot of Northgate Falls, swirling ceaselessly amidst a shallow, mossy gorge beneath woodlands in the northwest of Simsbury.

Even fairly small waterfalls such as this one, found along a nameless branch of Bissell Brook, were a boon to settlers as they migrated throughout the wilds of Connecticut in the early days. The hollow that was formed when a brook descended abruptly into gorge meant that a relatively small dam could impound plenty of water to operate a stream-side mill.

After discovering old fieldstone retaining walls lining the gorge at Northgate Falls, my curiosity was piqued. I used computer software to carefully overlay a hand-drawn map of Simsbury from 1868 upon modern satellite imagery. Sure enough, the 19th-century map shows a dammed pond labelled “Saw Mill” at the exact location of Northgate Falls; it’s likely that the mill site was already quite old even at that time.

Purchase a Fine Art Print or Inquire About Licensing

Click here to visit my landing page for “Rings of Northgate” to buy a beautiful fine art print or inquire about licensing this image.

Want to See More?

Be sure to check out all of my work from Northgate Falls.

Categories
All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

The Old Days at Cotton Hollow

Cotton Hollow Echoes (Roaring Brook at Cotton Hollow Preserve, Glastonbury, Connecticut)
“Cotton Hollow Echoes”
Roaring Brook at Cotton Hollow Preserve, Glastonbury, Connecticut
© 2015 J. G. Coleman

“Cotton Hollow Echoes”, one of my new pieces released this week, brings us to the shady depths of Glastonbury’s Cotton Hollow, where spirited cascades along Roaring Brook serenade the haunting, overgrown edifice of a long-abandoned mill.

There was a time when this stretch of Roaring Brook was the epicenter of South Glastonbury’s industrial might. From the 1700s onward, the river was lined with mills and factories that dammed the river, harnessing its strength to animate machinery. Cotton Hollow saw the production of everything from gun powder to boat anchors to its eponymous cotton textiles.

The Brook Remembers (Roaring Brook at Cotton Hollow Preserve, Glastonbury, Connecticut)
“The Brook Remembers”
Roaring Brook at Cotton Hollow Preserve, Glastonbury, Connecticut
© 2015 J. G. Coleman

But times change; so does technology. Once modern electrical grids eliminated the need for industry to be tethered to rivers, the crowded mills along Roaring Brook were slowly silenced. Boulder dams were eventually toppled. Woodlands eagerly reclaimed the river. Today, a quiet nature preserve occupies the very riverbanks where throngs of mill workers once labored amidst a cacophony of frantic machinery.

Purchase a Fine Art Print or Inquire About Licensing

Click here to visit my landing page for “Cotton Hollow Echoes” or “The Brook Remembers” to buy a beautiful fine art print or inquire about licensing this image.

Want to See More?

Be sure to check out all of my work from Roaring Brook and the forests of Cotton Hollow.