I attended a "Walktober" talk at the Meetinghouse in October.
Pomfret Second Church, formally “The Society taken out of Pomfret, Canterbury, and Mortlake" -- as it was named by the General Court in 1735 after having gone nameless it's first four years of existence, replaced their original meetinghouse with this one in 1771, in the less common style of having the pulpit in the middle of the side, rather than at the front of the building.
Though by this time it was known as "The Society of Brooklyn;" a change taking place in 1752 along with the General Court abolished Mortlake Manor folding it into the Town of Pomfret.
For much of the 19th century, the second floor was separated from the first -- the second floor being used by the church, the first by the town. Brooklyn was incorporated from Pomfret and Canterbury in 1786, and until the disestablishment of the Congregational Church in 1818 in Connecticut there was no separation of church and town -- tax dollars built and maintained the meetinghouse.
Construction was spearheaded by Israel Putnam (best remembered if not by name but by quote to most Americans, "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!" being his order); there was one death during the construction when a parishoner fell from the steeple.
Brooklyn was, at least in it's leadership, a particularly liberal parish. In 1819 it became the only society in Connecticut that when it divided between Congregationalist and Unitarian factions, that the Unitarians carried the majority and retained the meetinghouse.
In the 1830s Samuel J. May would be the minister (uncle to Louisa May Alcott, he would leave Brooklyn to focus on the abolition movement), and in 1871 they would ordain Celia Burleigh as the first female Unitarian minister and first female minister ordained in Connecticut:
The current town hall across the green, built by the Town as the Windham County Courthouse in 1831; it was a form of economic development the town figuring it would gain business as the county seat. When the courts later moved out the town offices moved there.
Sunday, after putting the snow blower back together (and discovering a $50 bearing that needs to be replaced, too) I took a break from house work and went to the Walktober even at the Chamberlin Sawmill. It was a nice walk. I can remember 20+ years ago seeing the mill still in pretty decent shape, with an ancient car backed in to power it. The car was a '28 Packard used to power the mill after the '36 flood destroyed the hydropower. The mill continued to operate into the 1960s. The Sessions-Chamberlin-Tayler family lived in this neighborhood for over 200 years.
I couldn't get enough leverage with a pry bar here to break it free...had to dig out, then span it with 4 4x4s I strapped together to make an 8x8:
Leveling the trench
After my first attempt to glue the pipes went horribly awry, I supported them on pallets the second time to keep everything aligned. I had also wrapped each pipe with a ratchet straps to give me a good place to grab and wiggle them together.
Slowly over the years quite a bit of erosion had occurred where the pipes were leaking...I'm hoping the pipe will hold up that far out, at least for a year or two. When I eventually get a tractor/backhoe (or rent one for a while) I will be able to fix that area up. I don't think this was solely on my watch, I think it must've started when Papu was still around.
It's been VERY dry this September. The water should be flowing out the top of this pipe, which would keep the duck weed flushed off the surface.
Still have backfill to finish. Hauling it up by the 5 gallon bucket full is slow work!
