Joshua and Perry Clarke’s gristmill and sawmill, powered by an undershot waterwheel, were about to undergo major technological changes…
Perry Clarke’s son Simeon would lead the way toward the future. “There never has been a smile that has come to me in a course of a lifetime that was sweeter nor warmed my heart more than one he gave me as a little child. I cannot recall any one man who was so much beloved as I think he was in his day. He had a tenderness of manner, that in contacts with young and old alike brought him close to one’s heart and affection”. Anne Hoxie
Simeon Perry Clark (1819-1887). He would drop the “e” from Clarke. Ann Hoxie remembered him and his importance to the Village: “He was the keynote to all harmony, to all sense of beauty and deep religious feeling…He was the foundation upon which the structure rested spiritually and financially”.
Anne Hoxie remembers: “I like to recall a story which my mother once told me about Mr. Clark. She was having a birthday and came on April 15, 1865 to his store. She saw him sitting outside on the steps with his head bowed and, as she came nearer, saw grief on his face and tears coursing their way down. She went to him and said: ‘Today’s my birthday!’ And then he put his arm around her and told her the tragic story of Abraham Lincoln, the president who had just been shot. And she also wept.”
Across the river the water rights had been partially owned by the Hoxie Family for generations…
Anne Hoxie’s home:
Hoxie Homestead
An agreement signed in 1848 with the Hoxie family gave Simeon enough rights to allow him to expand his business plans…
Now a new dam could be constructed…
Simeon Clark had the Horseshoe Falls built to help power the future…
Would provide power for generations….
Ready for expansion….
Sun rising on a new era…
Iron Bridge over the Pawcatuck River…
New engineering…
Construction…
Forebay…
Spillway…
The Original Stone Mill
Built in 1848…
Anne Hoxie: “Opposite the gristmill there was a little old store. It always looked lonesome to me as if waiting for its customers to return. It had outlived its day like many human beings. There were two old stone mills wheels that for years leaned up against the corner of the building. They had done their work, also, and rested from their labors. How they had gone round and round! Life was just one long grind for them until the end came. Think of the mouths they helped to fill! Someone carried off the mill wheels at last and I hope they rest in an honored niche somewhere.. Adjoining the store was a horse shed. Everyone who came to the gristmill as the store, had a place to stable his horse. Folks were not in a hurry in those days and probably stayed all day. Here, in the bend of the road was a spring. For several generations it gave refreshment to man and beast alike.”
Powerhouse with waterwheel in foreground…
Newly constructed…
Finely appointed…
Rear view….
Rear view looking from West…
Proud and happy days….
Simeon Perry Clark had helped to usher in a new age in the Village…
Simeon had a new home built for his family….and Anne Hoxie remembers: “One thing more about Mr. Clark. Every Sunday he had the Sunday school children come to his home when cherries were ripe on his trees. I tell you, who knows, there have never been any such cherries since! And then when watermelons were at their best we had a real picnic in the grove of fine old oaks that grew along the river bank where now the mill yard extends.”
Home still standing…
Notable picket fence…
7th, 8th, and 9th Generation since Dr. Clarke and his brother Joseph arrived in the New World in 1638…what would be next?