Welcome to The Velvet Mill
In a world not that long gone, in Connecticut and all of New England, much of the employment was in mills and the factories that later replaced the original mills. When I was growing up in Hartford in the 1950s and 1960s, Hartford wasn't just the "Insurance Capital of the World," but one of the leading sites for manufacturing typewriters. Both Underwood, later bought by Olivetti, and Royal typewriters were made there and employed thousands, including my father, who worked at Underwood for eighteen years.
But much of the manufacturing world of New England is now history or remains in a different ways. When I visited Connecticut in September we found a fascinating repurposed velvet mill in Stonington, The Velvet Mill. It's now an event space and home to restaurants and small businesses.
Once this was the home of Wimpfheimer Velvets manufacturing, which moved to Stonington from Astoria, New York in the early 1890s because of a malaria epidemic. The building had been built by the town of Stonington to encourage industrial development.
Years ago -- before the company moved to Virginia in 1996 -- looms to make velvet filled these spaces.
Some of the men and women who worked at those looms.
We found this fun-looking ice cream shop -- a genuine old-fashioned soda fountain -- at the end of one of the aisles. Unfortunately it wasn't open so we couldn't sample the ice cream. However, since Sift Bake Shop was our next stop that day, we didn't spoil our appetites.
I posted the picture of the beautiful black velvet dress above on my Facebook page. Several friends asked if I was tempted to buy it. Perhaps in a different time I might have been tempted. But I can only remember wearing a dress once in 2020, and my clothing purchases are mostly replacements for the few things I've worn out this year. Once we're socializing in person again -- how's that for optimism! -- I'm pretty sure I will look for a new dress for the first big event I'm invited to.
On a different note, Wimpfheimer's Velvet is still producing fabric at its Virginia location. I noted on their website that they sell small orders to home sewers.
As ever, thanks for visiting and take care.
