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Connecticut?s Historic Small Waterways and Dams: 1600-1800 with Karl Asimovic, Consulting Engineer
Date and Time
Thursday Apr 14, 2016
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM EDTThursday, April 14th
6PM
Location
La Grua Center
32 Water Street
Stonington, CTFees/Admission
This event is free and open to all
Contact Information
Contact: Elizabeth Wood, Executive Director, The Stonington Historical Society ewood@stoningtonhistory.org 860-535-8445 x10
Connecticut?s Historic Small Waterway...Description
Connecticut’s Historic Small Waterways and Dams: 1600-1800 with Karl Asimovic, Consulting Engineer
Thursday, April 14 at 6 pm at the La Grua Center 32 Water Street Stonington
Sponsored by the Stonington Historical Society
This event is free and open to all
Consulting Engineer, Karl Asimovic will present Connecticut’s Historic Small Waterways and Dams: 1600-1800 on Thursday, April 14 at 6 pm on behalf of the Stonington Historical Society. The timely topic will focus on the deteriorating small mill dams so prevalent in eastern Connecticut and will include historical aspects as they relate to their mill sites along rural streams, the most common historic functions being sawmills and gristmills. Most of these mills are obsolete if not long gone and the deteriorating condition of their dams has made the restoration or repairs cost prohibitive.
Karl Asimovic is an independent consulting engineer who has worked on historic dams and waterways throughout Connecticut including sites in Preston, Waterford, Montville, North Stonington, and Ledyard.
There is a current, coordinated effort among local, state, and federal agencies, including the Nature Conservancy, aimed at removing these historic dams for environmental reasons, flood control, and the restoration of native species habitats.
Recent local projects have included the demolition of the White Rock Dam on the Pawcatuck River and the removal of the Hyde Pond Dam that sits at the juncture of Stonington, Ledyard, and Groton and feeds into Whitford Brook and the Mystic River. A video of this local project was posted on YouTube by Save the Sound and can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7YNOob14sY
The most recognizable and iconic local dam site is Deans Mill – now home to the Mystic branch of the Aquarion Water Company and bearing no semblance of its former life. This site once housed an entire complex of mills owned and operated by the Dean family including a grist mill and two fulling mills. The historic dam stood much further back than its current location and the surrounding grounds were used for outings and picnics until 1922.
Connecticut’s Historic Small Waterways and Dams: 1600-1800 with Karl Asimovic, Consulting Engineer
Thursday, April 14 at 6 pm at the La Grua Center 32 Water Street Stonington
Sponsored by the Stonington Historical Society
This event is free and open to all
Photo Attached of Dean’s Mill Pond Dam circa 1907 from the Collections of the Woolworth Library and Research Center
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