The Main Sawmill is located in Ledyard

Ledyard, Connecticut

As of the census of 2000, there were 14,687 people, 5,286 households, and 4,101 families residing in the town. The population density was 385.1 people per square mile . There were 5,486 housing units at an average density of 143.8 per square mile...

, Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

. The sawmill

Sawmill

A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....

 was built in 1869 by Israel Brown.

History

A sawmill was built on the site in the 1790s by Nathaniel Brown II and Increase B. Stoddard. Philip Gray purchased the mill in 1805 and built a dam on an adjacent pond. Gray sold the mill in 1831. The current sawmill uses a up-and-down sash saw and was built in 1869 by Israel Brown. Brown mortgaged the mill and water rights to William Leeds Main in 1887. The mill was in operation until 1935.

The Town of Ledyard purchased the mill in 1966 to create Sawmill Park. The buildings and dam were restored by volunteers over a nine year period. The sawmill was added to the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

on April 26, 1972. The park and mill were opened to the public on April 19, 1975.