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May 17, 2026
FREE live music & guided tours of Connecticut’s last standing stone gristmill! Join us alongside the peaceful banks of the Fenton River to celebrate the 2026 Opening Day at this incredibly-preserved local heritage site.
1–5pm: guided tours of the Gurleyville Gristmill
2–3pm: live performance from musician Ben Cosgrove [thanks to our partnership with Sustain Music & Nature]
Located on the banks of the Fenton River in Mansfield, the Gurleyville Grist Mill is the only stone mill of its kind in Connecticut and remains in a remarkable state of preservation for a 19th century mill.
A sawmill was built on this site in 1723 and the grist mill was added around 1750. The latter was replaced in the 1830s by the present mill that continued to operate until 1941. An attached sawmill was destroyed by heavy snow in the early 1950s and the dam was washed out in the winter of 1958-59. It had served for 200 years, and had been repaired and maintained but never modernized. The gristmill itself, constructed of stone, remains in a remarkable state of preservation.