1. The Human Epoch
  2. Works in the Exhibition
  3. Cook | Mill Valley, Norwich, Connecticut

Cook | Mill Valley, Norwich, Connecticut

Howard Norton Cook (American, 1901-1980)

Mill Valley, Norwich, Connecticut (1930)

Brush and ink on paper, 16 3/8 x 11 ¾”

Gift of Friends of the Museum, 1972.26

The Mill Town

Whereas rural life in New England was widely dispersed across the land, water-powered mill villages often had dense, multi-story residential settlements adjacent to even denser factory mills that tapped streamflow to make New England the industrial powerhouse that won the American Civil War. Owing to their dependence on waterpower, mill villages like Norwich, CT were often nestled into and cupped by the adjacent hills.