Gurleyville Grist Mill
Opening Day at the Gurleyville Grist Mill
May 17, 20261:00 pm
Located on the banks of the Fenton River in Mansfield, the Gurleyville Grist Mill is the only stone mill of its kind in Connecticut and remains in a remarkable state of preservation for a 19th century mill.
A sawmill was built on this site in 1723 and the grist mill was added around 1750. The latter was replaced in the 1830s by the present mill that continued to operate until 1941. An attached sawmill was destroyed by heavy snow in the early 1950s and the dam was washed out in the winter of 1958-59. It had served for 200 years, and had been repaired and maintained but never modernized. The gristmill itself, constructed of stone, remains in a remarkable state of preservation.
The Grist Mill is built of several types of local rocks: garnetiferous schist, gneiss, granite, pegmatite and quartzite. Inside, the historic mill houses complete, perfectly preserved equipment. Two sets of grinding stones are as they were when last used. Conveying devices, the silk bolter for flour sifting, shafts, and huge gears are intact. Unusual in gristmills is the basement, where a huge water wheel once turned from water diverted under the building from the Fenton River.
The Gurleyville Grist Mill is the only surviving stone gristmill in Connecticut. This important historical and cultural site documents the development of modern America and offers an understanding of the technological past.
Dr. Abbott Lowell Cummings, past president of what is now known as Historic New England, wrote this on the Gurleyville Grist Mill in 1965, fourteen years prior to its preservation by Joshua’s Trust:
"The setting as a whole is [not] improvable and adds immeasurably to the interest of the building. If it can be preserved and maintained... it will continue to be among those very few New England occupational buildings which can boast of a virtually unspoiled setting. the adjoining meadows and fields with the woods beyond, the stream and its rustic bridge, and the early house... combine to make an effective picture which one would be hard put to duplicate elsewhere in our rapidly changing landscape. When such a picture has survived intact, it would seem that we have double a responsibility to ensure its preservation for future generations."