[These pages are part of a set of pages about the Quiambaug/Mistuxet Valley ("QB" for short); the main page is http://qb.mindhenge.org/. The author is Bryan Bentz. Who would love to hear from anyone with anything to add!]

The main emphasis on this page is on new photographs of the original fulling mill, a location normally under water. I'd very much like to thank the anonymous donor who took the photos.

Section 5.8 of the main page (qb.mindhenge.org) describes how James Dean of Taunton came to Stonington, and how his son James Jr. established a fulling mill:

James Dean, Jr., did not confine himself to blacksmithing, but learned the business of fulling and dressing woolen cloth, and for that purpose erected a fulling-mill on Mistuxet Brook, afterwards known as Dean's Brook, about one-third of the way from the old post road down to the Dean's Mills. There he continued both branches of business until his son, John Dean, reached manhood, when he and his father built a new dam and erected another fulling-mill near his dwelling-house, where the dam now crosses the brook. After this arrangement was effected they devoted their time and attention to cloth-dressing, wool carding, and for the manufacture of cotton and woolen goods were obtained. ... James Dean continued in business until 1830, when he retired.

The italicized section is the interesting part. The "old post road" we now call Pequot Trail, and "Dean's Mills" is, as described above, at the "upper dam" just north of I-95. This places the original fulling mill 2/3 of the way between them. Recently I received a number of photographs of this location, only possible because of an extensive drought.

"Fulling" was a process of working cloth to make it cleaner and thicker (see, for instance, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulling). Water power was used to operate the hammers that beat the cloth. For an example of what the archaeology of a fulling mill site looks like, visit https://uplandpete.wordpress.com/tag/fulling-mill/. An example of the one type of machinery that might have been present (this from Cugand, France):

The first fulling mill site is now normally underwater. Sometime during the summer a contributor visited the area when a drought had reduced the water level to nearly zero - probably close to what it looked like before any dams were built. Here are some of the photographs I received. Each has an associated lat/lon, which you may use to plot the location on Google Earth or similar viewer. (I extracted the location using the embedded EXIF data; the website regex.info/exif.cgi, "Jeffrey's Image Metadata Viewer", was very helpful for figuring out exactly where these were taken.)

The photos appear to have been taken in late August 2016. My guess is that the photographer traveled roughly from point A to point B in this map:

Photo	Notes	Location (Lat, Lon, map of field of view)
	Looking across the floor of the valley. This of course is normally entirely underwater. The remaining channel is visible at the far side of the valley floor.	41.377483, -71.928567
	Looking south from the roughly the same location. The valley narrows quite a bit, then opens out again as it nears the Upper Dam.	41.377544, -71.928567
	Basically from the same general spot, this time looking at the channel - this turns out to be the channel just south of the dam. It looks like there's a stone wall on the far side of the channel; this is visible in the photo above too.	41.377536, -71.928581
	If you were looking at the scene above, and turned to the right, this is what you'd see. You can see the dam as a horizontal band of tan stone that the channel disappears into.	41.378083, -71.928231
	Approaching the dam, from the eastern side. The channel runs along the western side; it is visible north of the dam in this shot. Note the soil level to the south of the dam - I would guess that this is due to silting since the dam has been submerged.	41.379208, -71.928161
	From about the midpoint of the dam, looking west at the channel. In the immediate foreground it looks like there's a wall running north/south (that is, in the same direction as the channel). The stonework looks quite crude - though some of the stones may have been fitted. They also appear to have the same color and perhaps size - either because they were from one location, or because being submerged has affected the surface color. I can't tell from the photo if the stones were cut, or fitted based on their natural shapes.	41.379167, -71.928253
	The "downstream" side of the dam. The stone wall paralleling the channel just ends. It does indeed look like a mess. I wonder if, when the Deans opened the downstream mill, they breached/destroyed this dam as much as they could. It occurred to me that it's quite possible that significant amounts of lumber may have been used in the original structures; the removal of that, through fire, rot, or reuse, might be responsible for some of the apparent disorder of the stones.	41.379167, -71.928253
	Just to the left of the photo above, showing the channel south of the dam. Note the stone wall on the far side of the channel, mostly buried, but perhaps intended to edge the channel there.	41.379161, -71.928244
	Looking south from the dam location. The channel and gap to the south shown earlier are visible. It seems like there is a stone wall curving into about the middle of the photo, then heading west. It's possible that was to allow an access road on that side of the valley.	41.379161, -71.928253
	Looking north over the dam. The stream/channel is to the left. Pequot Trail is to the north, in the trees.	41.379156, -71.928253
	Looking south from north of the dam; the dam is visible in the middle of the picture, over the three tree stumps. It's interesting how uneven it is - dams usually are flat. It may be that the stones have settled over the centuries, or that the dam was partially knocked down when the new dam (now the Upper Dam near I-95) was built.	41.379547, -71.928322
	Looking further north along the stream to the north of the dam. Pequot Trail is in the far trees. Note the stone edge wall on the left (west) side of the channel.	41.380086, -71.928086
	A bit further north. It looks like there's an east/west stone wall across the stream, above the midpoint of the picture, but I can't be sure.	41.380383, -71.927764
	Looking south from the north end of the valley, close to Pequot Trail.	41.381297, -71.927353
	Looking north towards Pequot Trail. The stonework along the far (west) side of the stream seems deliberate.	41.381672, -71.927697
	A "taugwonk" a stone used for grinding corn, spotted along the route.

Dean's Mill & the Fulling Mill Dam