Historic Mills of Connecticut

Use (Historic)

• Food, Beverage, Tobacco

Largest Documented Workforce

n/a

Historic Narrative

see National Register nomination Gillette Grist Mill stands on the west bank of the Nepaug River. Because this mill represents 19th-century technology which rarely survives, even in this deteriorated condition, it was recorded in 1977 by a survey team from the Southern New England Chapter, Society for Industrial Archaeology. The survey findings have had significant impact on the waterwheel reconstruction project at Slater Mill Historic Site, Pawtucket, RI. (Roth)

Number of Existing Buildings

1

Dates of Construction

mid-19th c.

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

• Mill

Architectural Description

Set on a deep foundation/wheel pit of mortared rubble, it is a 2-story frame building with gable roof. The earthen and rubble-walled headrace, leading from the ruins of a dam upstream, is mostly filled in. The underground masonry tailrace discharged into the stream about 40' below the mill. The mid-breast wheel is about 18' diameter and 6' across the face. The buckets and much of the felloes have rotted away but extant fragments of the felloes have mortises where the buckets were fitted, and from which the size, shape, and location of the buckets can be determined. The axle is iron, as is the hub, which held the heavy wooden spokes. Iron rods tie the two sides of the wheel together at the spoke ends. On one side of the wheel the felloe is extended toward the wheel's center, and this extension carries a cast iron internal ring gear which provided power take-off through a pinion gear. The round shaft carrying this pinion holds a bevel gear at its other end, which meshes with another bevel gear to drive the polygonal vertical shaft that drove the spindles for the stones. All these parts are iron, except for the wooden teeth in the bevel gear on the vertical shaft. Little survives on the first floor of the mill. On the second fIoor are found a bolter and a smutter. along with the overhead, square-section shafting which drove them. (Roth)

Exterior Material(s)

• Stone
• Wood

Structural System(s)

• Post and Beam

Roof Form

• Gable

Roof Material

n/a

Power Source

• Water (Wheel)

Condition

n/a

Condition Notes

n/a

Specific Location

5.6 acre parcel on the north side of Maple Hollow Road and the Nepaug River, north of the Dings Road intersection.
Individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places,

Adjacent To

• Water (for Power)

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• 015-028-18A (for record, use link and type in address or parcel number) / Link →

Acreage

5.6

Use (Present)

• Vacant

Form Completed By

n/a

Date

2011

Bibliography

1. Roth, Matthew, et al, Connecticut: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites (Washington DC: SIA, 1981).
2. Clouette, Bruce. 1977. Gillette's Gristmill National Register Nomination No. 77001403. National Park Service.
3. Gillette's Grist Mill record. 2011. Historic Barns of Connecticut.