Historic Mills of Connecticut

Companies Associated w/Complex

• Clarks Falls Mill

Use (Historic)

• Paper & Wood Products

Largest Documented Workforce

n/a

Historic Narrative

In the 18th century the stream powered a sawmill, which Thomas Clark of Newport, RI bought in 1796. The Clark family controlled the water privileges throughout the 19th century, using them to power several enterprises. In the early 19th century Peleg Clark built a grist mill and later Alfred Clark founded Clarks Falls Manufacturing Co. to produce flannels. Peleg Tift joined Alfred Clark in the sawmill and gristmill businesses in 1861, when they rebuilt the dam and watercourses. Although the building has been a gristmill for at least 50 years, it may originally have been the Clark and Tift sawmill. The east wall, now boarded closed, once opened to permit the entry of logs, as depicted in a c.1895 photograph of the site. The mill's heavy center girts are closely spaced, an arrangement consistent with the structural requirements of supporting a saw frame. Present equipment includes one run of stone and a John Deere two-hole corn-sheller. The turbine has been removed for reconditioning and a new steel vertical shaft, between wheelpit and stone, has been installed. Otherwise the power system retains the components of the early 20th century, primarily steel shafting with cast iron gears. The masonry dam survives but the stone-walled headrace collapsed recently. Grain milling will resume when repairs are completed on the headrace and turbine. Tail water from this mill ran through a stone culvert under the road and continued eastward to the wheelpit of the flannel mill some 75 yards away. Except for stone foundations there are no aboveground remains of the flannel mill. A 2 1/2-story, gable-roofed frame boardinghouse stands on the bank south of the flannel mill's headrace. (Roth)

Number of Existing Buildings

one

Dates of Construction

c.1861

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

• Mill

Architectural Description

It is likely that the one extant mill was rebuilt c.1861 when Tift joined Clark. The 1 1/2-story, 36' x 22' frame mill, with gable roof and vertical-board siding, stands on a foundation/ wheelpit of rubble masonry. (Roth)

Exterior Material(s)

• Wood

Structural System(s)

n/a

Roof Form

• Gable

Roof Material

n/a

Power Source

n/a

Condition

n/a

Condition Notes

n/a

Specific Location

between Wyassup Brook to the north and Clarks Falls Road (route 216) to the south

Adjacent To

• Water (for Power)

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• 97-2398 / Link →

Acreage

1.18

Use (Present)

• Vacant

Form Completed By

n/a

Date

n/a

Bibliography

1. New London Atlas; Census 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880; Barlow's Insurance Survey, No.6856, 1882, MVTM; William Haynes, Stonington Chronology, 1976; Photographs in the collection of Jack Bucklyn, Old Mystic, CT; interview with John Palmer, miller, May 1980.
2. Roth, Matthew, et al, Connecticut: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites (Washington DC: SIA, 1981).