I’m a student at Eastern Connecticut State University and I am writing to discuss my recent trip to the Mill Museum located on Main Street, Willimantic. To be honest, when I heard that my Non-Profit Organizations class was going on a tour through the Mill Museum, I expected to be bored by the exhibits of old sewing machines, textiles, and documentation about the mills from the late 1800’s. I was pleased to find that the Mill Museum had much more than that, and exhibits that can be appealing to all ages.
Once I got to the museum, I entered the gift shop that had tall ceilings, little knick-knacks, and a country feel that is completely different from the museum’s surrounding area. The museum features several exhibits ranging from a life-like walk through of a mill workers house compared to a manager’s house, to actual machines they used in the mill factories. My visit at the Mill Museum helped me imagine what it would have been like during the time the mills were working. I learned a lot more about the history of Willimantic, my new home-away-from-home.
Not only does the Mill Museum provide guided tours through the museum, but educational opportunities for the surrounding schools and events, such as the Annual Snow Ball fundraiser. The Mill Museum also has temporary exhibits, which means they always have something new and interesting! For example, this past summer they had a Steampunk exhibit, including a jewelry and literature display related to this subculture. I highly recommend a visit to the Mill Museum because of its historical value and thorough tour about the history of Willimantic. For more information, visit www.millmuseum.org.
