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Presentation

Eversource Energy’s Community Relations Specialist, Shawn Johnston,  presents  a check to the nonprofit Chamberlin Mill, Inc., represented by board members Evelyn Cole Smith, Ayla Kardestuncer, and Jean McClellan in the office of Allan Walker, Woodstock First Selectman.  Left to right: Smith, McClellan, Kardestuncer, Johnston, and Walker. Courtesy photo.

 

Sawmill

gets grant

WOODSTOCK — Shawn Johnston, community relations specialist, representing Eversource Energy, recently awarded a grant to the nonprofit Chamberlin Mill, Inc., toward its effort to revitalize the historic sawmill as an educational and cultural resource for the region.  

According to Jean McClellan, president of Chamberlin Mill, Inc., the $1,000 grant will support phase two of the restoration — work on wood structural elements. The group has been building a pool of local funding, to be matched by grant funding. He said Phase One, foundation repair has already received full grant funding.

 “We’re proud to support the restoration of Chamberlin Mill, a key piece of Connecticut’s history,” said Bill Herdegen, President of Eversource’s Connecticut Electric Operations. “Revitalizing one of New England’s only historic sawmills ensures this important agricultural resource will be around for years to come as an educational tool for our communities and customers.”

 “We are very grateful to Eversource for this grant, the community support it represents, and the work it will enable us to do,” said McClellan. “To date, we have been lucky in the support we have received from individual donors and from funding agencies.  The grant from Eversource represents a significant addition to our current effort to engage area corporations and businesses in our work.  With support of this kind, we are confident we will succeed in restoring this rare sawmill as a resource for future generations to enjoy.”

Progress at the Mill continues at a good pace.  Just this past week, volunteers from Mystic Seaport, who have been reviving the Mill’s 1928 Studebaker engine, heard it turn over for the first time in almost half a century.  With continued good luck, the engine, which drove the Mill’s 19th century circular saw after The Great Flood of 1936 until the lumber operation ceased in the late 1960s, will return to Woodstock later this year. 

Chamberlin Mill, Inc. is poised this spring to engage contractors for necessary fieldstone foundation repair and hopes to begin work as early in the season as this winter’s melting snow will allow.  Funding for this first phase of the restoration has been provided by a grant from the Summer Hill Foundation. 

Community donations will be critical to the next, most involved phase of the restoration, stabilization of sills, posts and other structural timbers.  Community funds not only help in and of themselves, but are critical in matching other grants, and in demonstrating local support to funding agencies.  As Chamberlin Mill, Inc. engages the business community in its effort to revitalize this rare Woodstock mill, it is grateful to its earliest corporate supporters who, beyond Eversource, include the Byrnes Insurance Agency, Citizens National Bank, and CME Associates, and to well more than 100 individual donors and many volunteers.

Further information about the Mill is available at www.chamberlinmill.org.

Anyone interested in volunteering with the Chamberlin Mill effort, in making a tax-deductible donation, or who has replacement parts for a Lane # 1 saw is invited to contact Chamberlin Mill, Inc., P.O. Box 2, Woodstock, CT This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Woodstock First Selectman Allan Walker, said, “I was thrilled to be part of bringing Eversource and Chamberlin Mill, Inc. together to move this project forward,” First Selectman Walker stated.  The fine work being done to restore Chamberlin Mill is not only an important community endeavor, but a meaningful enhancement to the Last Green Valley.  Being able to support historic and cultural resources in the local area is one of the most enjoyable parts of my job as First Selectman.  Work that creates educational and recreational activities for all citizens to enjoy strengthens our community.”

Chamberlin Mill, an active sawmill site since the 18th century, produced lumber for local use through the 1960s.  The surviving structure dates from the latter part of the 19th century, when a Lane #1 circular saw and water turbine replaced an earlier up and down saw and undershot wheel.  Chamberlin Mill, Inc. intends to operate the mill on a demonstration basis, using its latest power source, the Studebaker engine.  Chamberlin is the last historic mill structure still standing in Woodstock, and one of only a handful of historic sawmills in New England. Its longevity makes it an important teaching tool about a vital agriculturally related industry and the value of technology.