What We are Learning

We are discovering that even though the Pomperaug Valley is a small region (only 90 square miles) that in the end didn't amount to much as far as industry is concerned (for which we are grateful), there is nevertheless an incredible wealth of documentary information and physical remains. We are finding that family relationships are key in untangling ownership chains, at least in the smaller places, and that our towns were tied through their industries to much farther- reaching economies and social systems. Because there is so much information, we are using two approaches: One, we are developing a broad overview of what was here, looking for as many references to mills and factories as we can find. These are being compiled into a database. Second, we are going to focus on just a few sites to study in depth. These sites have both physical remains - buildings or foundations or dams - and documentary evidence. We will try to find out everything we can to understand the sites and their relationships to the towns, their use of the water resources, and their effect on the natural history of our area.

We will be looking at sites that are subsistence economy models, where the water flow tended to be seasonal, and the workers and the products were locally based, and market economy models, where the workforce was hired for full-time, year-round labor, the products were shipped out of the local area, and the businesses were funded by shareholders, rather than individuals.

We suspect, however, that what we will find will be a more complex arrangement of relationships, both economic and social.