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Brayton
Mill Damaged
The wild waters ripped panels off the historic Brayton Mill in Pomfret. Courtesy photo.

By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
POMFRET — Last weekend’s high waters ripped through the bottom level of the historic Brayton Mills at the entrance of Mashamoquet Brook State Park.
The grist mill, built around 1890 by William Brayton, also houses the Marcy Blacksmith Museum.
The mill is owned by the state but managed by the Pomfret Historical Society, according to society President John Charest. The society operates tours of the mill.
Charest said the panels were ripped off in a couple places on the mill. That is not too concerning,” he said; however “We need to see if any beams or columns were affected.”
He said the four-story building is “basically resting on stone.” In 1984, he said, some concrete was added in addition to some 8x8 inch wood beams (probably custom made by Hull) and some columns.
Charest said carpenters can “shore up” anything needed. The state may bring in an expert to make sure it doesn’t have any structural problems.
According to the Pomfret Historical Society’s webpage, the mill is a post-and-beam frame structure, four stories in height, with a gabled roof and clapboarded exterior.
The mill is no longer functional. However, the equipment remains and includes the critical components of a functioning grist mill. These include:
A sub-level (below grade) a 19th-century turbine mounted in a wooden frame
In the lowest level are the wooden gears that transferred power to the main shaft to turn the millstone.
The second level of the mill houses controls for gearing the turbine’s power shaft down to equipment working speed to drive the millstone
The third level housed water drive wood milling equipment at one time. It now houses a collection of blacksmithing tools and equipment from Orin Marcy whose blacksmithing shop was across from the Brayton Mill.
Mashamoquet Brook was the site of a number of early mills, dating at least as far back as 1816. This mill was built by Brayton from materials salvaged from older mills that were on the site. It is the last surviving mill of several that are known to have lined Mashamoquet Brook. Brayton died in 1928 and the state purchased the property in 1930 as part of an enlargement of the state park.
The mill is one of the best-preserved 19th-century rural grist mills in the state. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

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Centaurs take
to court in a
different role
WOODSTOCK— – It may be the heart of summer, but there was plenty of activity at the Woodstock Academy Alumni Fieldhouse last week.
The Woodstock Academy boys’ basketball team played host to the Centaur basketball summer camp for a first time in the summer under the direction of Centaurs head coach Marty Hart.
The Centaurs, due to the pandemic, did host a camp during the holiday week in partnership with Hoops for Hunger in late December.
About 15 young athletes turned out to take part this time.
Most for the same reason. “I’m really bored. It was just fun to play some basketball,” said eighth grader Cotter Pierce from Woodstock.
Hart said the emphasis of the camp was on offense. He brought in Mike Phelps from All-Pro Shooting to help with the camp. “Mike was a shooting coach for UConn. He has worked with a lot of athletes and a lot of schools. His specialty is offensive moves and shooting,” Hart said.
Pierce said he did receive personal instruction especially in how he aligns his feet when taking a shot.
Seventh-grader Anna Hernandez, whose older brother Jacob graduated this past year from the Academy, said it helped her game.
“I’m more of a defensive person,” Hernandez said. “I’m more of a passer, not a shooter, so I wanted to get better in knowing when to shoot and when to pass.”
Hernandez, from Pomfret, is a chip off the block of her brother as she is also an all-around athlete, participating in soccer, cross-country and track and field as well as basketball.
The camp spent about half the six-hour per day time allotment on offensive skills with rebounding, defensive skills, and team play rolled in following lunch. The campers also had a host of scrimmages and games during the course of the week.
In addition to helping youngsters better their game, the camp also brought back about a dozen members of the Centaurs boys’ basketball program to campus to help out.
“I used to look up to (the high school players) when I was a kid and they were like five years older than me. It’s nice to teach the kids and it taught me some stuff,” said Anderson who will be a senior for the Centaurs in the 2021-22 season. “I kind of like (teaching). I used to be the little kid and my brother (Chase) was always the one playing basketball here. It’s nice.”
Anderson said it was also a chance for him to bond with some of the younger players who will be his teammates this coming winter.
“It’s great for team camaraderie,” Hart said. “It says ‘Centaurs’ on the front of all of our shirts. We’re one big family, one big nation so it’s great for our players to get together and start to form those relationships and demonstrate their commitment to the sport.”
The camp will also help in another way as the tuition money paid by the campers will go right back into the program.
“It’s a way for us to earn money for the incidentals that will come up during the year. It’s a chance for (the players) to volunteer and none of us are collecting a check or a stipend. All of the money is going back into basketball,” Hart said.
Hart said the plan is to continue to run the camp each year on the week following the July Fourth holiday and he hopes it will continue to grow even larger.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

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The following charges were listed in the Putnam Police Department logs.  The people charged are innocent until proven guilty in court. The Town Crier will publish dispositions of cases at the request of the accused. The dispositions must be accompanied by the proper documentation. The Putnam Police Department confidential Tip Line is 860-963-0000.
July 8
Roger Rioux, 54, Powhattan Street, Putnam; violation of probation.
July 11
Mark P. Bedard, 58, Millbury Road, Oxford, Mass.; evading responsibility.

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