North Stonington — The Watermark Café, destroyed by the heavy flood waters of last month's rainstorms, saw its last sunrise Tuesday before demolition crews dug the metal teeth of two excavators into the roof of the 150-year-old building.

Shortly before 7:30 a.m., a universal shudder worked its way through the small crowd gathered to watch a significant piece of their town's history crumble into bits and pieces and float down the Shunock Brook.

Stephanie Annino and her son, Christopher, situated themselves on a granite ledge to watch the demolition team.

"It holds so much historical meaning for the town," said Annino, who has lived on Main Street for the past 10 years. "It just feels like a part of our community is about to disappear. It's the heart of our village."

As workers were beginning to smash in windows of the condemned building, Annino shook her head. She and her son sought out the closest view they could get without crossing the orange tape and concrete barriers placed on Main Street to block both vehicle and pedestrian access across the bridge.

Demolition workers stood on the roof of the Watermark with high-powered saws to separate the restaurant from the Village Hardware store, which was salvageable.

Sounds of broken glass, splitting wood and grinding metal took over the early morning calm.

"This is a sad day for North Stonington," said First Selectman Nicholas Mullane II. "We're losing the centerpiece of our history. Between the bridge and the Watermark, it's horrible."

The building has an appraised value of $178,600, according to Assessor Darryl DelGrosso, and records indicate it was built in 1860. True Miller, who has owned the building for 34 years, has declined to comment since the hardware store and the café closed their doors as a result of the flooding.

Members of the North Stonington Historical Society met with Miller a week ago and discussed trying to have the building restored. At the time, Miller was waiting for an engineer's assessment on whether the Watermark could be saved since the flood waters had caused significant structural damage.

"Our hopes were to be able to see it restored, but that was not what ended up happening," Historical Society librarian Gladys Chase said.

Dennis Schain, director of communications for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said that because the building was over a stream, if Miller chooses to rebuild, the DEP would need to review the construction plans and building designs to determine any future impact on the stream and other natural resources.

The town is slowly starting to recover from the damage left by the flood waters two weeks ago. Its landmark Main Street bridge is the next big item.

The double-arched bridge, which has a wood foundation with large stones situated in a pyramid-like structure, will have to be rebuilt, Mullane said.

"If you pull even one stone from the bottom it's all going to come down," he said. "We'll probably have to go with one arch now."

Almost every picture or postcard of the town's historic center captures the Watermark, the Old Town Hall and the bridge, pointed out resident Marcia Smith.

"Now the future generations will miss out on the entire antiquity of the town," Smith said. "I don't know what they're going to put there now. Nothing can replace it."

j.hanckel@theday.com

About the building

Editor's note: Information corrected April 14, 2010, to explain building's history

The Village Store was built circa 1820 and was believed to have been occupied by two merchants named Williams and Rogers and then later by coffin maker Augustus Babcock, according to North Stonington Historical Society librarian Gladys Chase.

In the 1840s it became better known as Holmes Block, in which Wheeler Holmes sold fruit, confectionary and baked goods on one end while Holmes' father, David Holmes, operated a cabinet and coffin shop on the other side.

In 1908, the store was sold to Frank Brown and George Stone, who sold general merchandise.

North Stonington Town Clerk Norma Holliday remembers that in the late 1960s or early 1970s the building was a country store that had transferred ownership three times but remained running as a country store/deli.

In 1985, The Country Grocery moved into the side of the building that most recently housed the Watermark under the new ownership of Peter and Susan Grufstedt. The pair bought the building from Howard Gore and were contemplating adding baked goods and salads to their already established grinder trade.

In the early '90s, Michelle Buehler sold fresh herbs, pastries, coffee, incense, beads and antiques from the building. Buehler then closed her store and her sister began her own beading business. After closing the beading store around 1997, the building sat vacant for nearly one year until Laurie Pepin and others opened the Watermark Cafe in 1999.