Old Town Mill sees new and old faces at open house
New London — It's been a while since anyone tried to take over the Old Town Mill — 235 years, in fact, when it was burned by the British during the Revolutionary War.
But on Saturday during an open house, conquering the mill became the goal of the day again — to the surprise of the staff at the mill — when a few visitors informed them that the site is a level-two Pokemon Go gym controlled by Team Valor.
The open house saw a handful of accidental visitors, playing the augmented reality game, and several veterans, there to revisit the landmark grist mill and relearn the history of one of the oldest industrial sites in the country.
The building and grounds will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Aug. 6 and 23 as well as Sept. 10.
Barrett Nuttall, who came to the open house with his parents, Bettine Besier and James Nuttall, said he tried to take over the gym but the previous visitors had left behind a force that was "too strong."
"What does that mean?" asked Judy Cox, a City of New London employee who helped guide visitors.
"It's not worth it," he said of the explanation.
A short while later, however, Shawn Coulter, also on the hunt for Pokemon, walked through the open gate and, within a few minutes, took the gym.
He decided to stay for the short informational video and learn about the history of the machine on a tour with guide Jim Diaz.
"I'm an engineer, so I'm always interested in how these things work ... (and) in learning the history," Coulter said.
Diaz, a carpenter with a fascination for history — he has a collection of more than 700 historical postcards, including some from the Old Town Mill — said he wanted to bring the mill to its former prominence as a way of "supporting New London."
The mill first opened in 1650, supposedly established by Connecticut's first governor, John Winthrop, and was rebuilt, expanded and upgraded over the years to meet the demand of New London's growing population.
Fed by water in a sluice powering a waterwheel, two large grindstones turned in opposite directions to turn the corn into flour.
The phrase "nose to the grindstone" comes from the attention a miller needed to pay to the separation between the two, Diaz explained.
"If he wasn't paying attention, there would be a spark and (the grain) could potentially catch fire," he said.
When the mill was attacked by the British, Diaz said, it caused serious damage to food production.
"This pretty much fed the town, this place," Diaz said. "All the farmers brought (corn) here to be ground, and so when Benedict Arnold came here and burned this place to the ground in 1781, he kind of crippled the city."
"Without food, you're hurting."
Over the years it was modernized and eventually ceased production in 1913.
But the building had a life beyond milling of grain, as Diaz explained.
Even then, the prominent location lent itself as a tourist attraction, as evidenced by the cutlerly, ceramic, postcard and various decorative items featuring images of the mill on display in one of the back rooms.
A tourism district even operated out of the building for a time, Diaz said, with a full-time caretaker.
Cox and Diaz said while it might be an unusual way to get people interested in history, the newfound attention from Pokemon Go players is welcome.
"If it's getting them outside, it's a good thing," Cox said.
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