It was the river that convinced the Englishmen that they had found the perfect spot. It was 1640.

They promised the Tunxis Indians protection against their enemies in exchange for the right to farm their land.

The document was called “The Farmington Deed”. The town was officially named Farmington in 1645.

Sometime before 1682, Deacon Stephen Hart built a Grist Mill on the Farmington River to grind the farmer’s corn and wheat into flour.

The Grist Mill, still standing at the foot of Mill Lane, has had many owners according to town records. The names that surface are rich with the town’s history-- Hooker, Deming, Cowles, Parsons, Winchell Smith, Emmett and Mary Rourke, Helen and John Winter and Mario Zacco. It made local and nation history in 1917 when D.W. Griffith Motion Picture Co. spent two weeks in Farmington filming part of Winchell Smith’s silent movie “Down East” which starred Lillian Gish and Richard Barthelmess jumping from ice floe to ice floe in the dramatic rescue scene.

The story of ‘light on the river’ began when the mill was officially named Helen Winter’s Grist Mill in 1970. The Mill had stood vacant for 7 years after the Rourkes closed it in 1963. The mill had never fully recovered from the devastating flood of 1955 when the river rose half way through the second floor where grain was stored.

Helen Winter was looking for a new home for her antique gallery. She was shown the vacant mill tilting toward the river.

Never mind the tilt. ‘Light’ came into Helen’s eyes and she bought it. After spending untold sums to undergird the foundation, she opened her new home for antiques, November 29, 1970. The day of the grand opening, the expected 300 or so visitors turned into 5000. Police records of the day relate parked cars lining Main Street from one end to the other. Guests were awed by the setting which married the beauty of fine porcelain and silver with the magic of the ‘light on the river’. They felt the energy of the sparkling race with its dancing white caps swirling with life. It was enchanting! Helen envisioned her mill becoming a mini-mall of small shops and her first priority was art and books. The word spread and it captured the imagination of two recent Trinity college graduates, John Chapin and Ryan Kuhn.

My husband’s career brought us to Farmington in 1968. To learn more about the 1784 house that was to be home for the next 38 years, I visited the Farmington Library. While searching in the stacks, I overheard two young men talking with the head librarian, Ruth Hyatt. John and Ryan were interviewing her about the reading habits of Farmington residents. It was good news. They opened Millrace Books May 7th, 1971. They had designed and built a wonderful home for books out of bare walls with the help of their friend, Peter Wiles. They captured the race of the river with a picture window and filled the space with bookcases, ample shelving and a sturdy oak counter. Their good taste remains in place today as the bookstore celebrates its 37th year.

The mini-mall of shops that Helen Winter envisioned developed rapidly. In addition to the antique gallery and the bookshop, there was Alice Ferguson’s Grist Mill Gallery, later owned by Clari Bare, the Needleloft, offering classes and original designs by Barbara Eyre, Charlotte Westerfield and Maggie Wall; Clare Smith’s Primitive Artisan Gallery of Folk Art; the Soupcon, later to expand into the Reading Room Restaurant. The pleasure of good food heightened by the ever-changing beauty of the river was a magical draw.

True to her Yankee heritage, Helen Winter had another idea. Why not harness the rush of the Farmington River beneath the mill and install the mill’s own hydro-electric system. The old turbine manufactured in 1905 by S. Morgan Smith was pulled from under the mill, cleaned and rebuilt, then reinstalled and connected to an electric generator mounted on the antique shop floor beside the old grind stones. Helen named it Freddie and a christening party was held with many dignitaries and a band on hand to celebrate the event. That the river refused to cooperate efficiently does not diminish the idea. Kudos to the Winters for trying. After Helen Winter retired, the mill was destined to house a five star restaurant under the expertise of Mario Zacco of Farmington’s Corner House Restaurant fame. Mario believed that good food and good books both served man’s needs and so Millrace has stayed in its original home.

The ‘light on the river’ has inspired many memorable events but the one that made Millrace famous occurred in 1980. Guided by a philosophy of ‘use what you have’ and inspired by a publisher’s window display contest for the newly illustrated edition of the beloved children’s classic by Kenneth Grahame, “The Wind in the Willows”, Nancy Davis and I stood at the picture window with the book in our hands and said. “Let’s use our river bank”. The book’s jacket showed Toad, Ratty, Mole and Badger having lunch on the river bank. Nancy saw the possibility of a town-gown event and contacted Sara Prentis, head of the art department at Miss Porters School. Four talented students fashioned ‘larger-than-life’ papier-mache figures of the four animal friends and high school student, Stephen Inzer and friend Tim Price made four trips in Stephen’s fiberglass boat to set up the tableau on the island that hugged the river bank.

It was Sunday afternoon Oct. 19th. I said a silent prayer and went to bed. Arising early the next morning, I hurried to the mill. For years, Millrace mailed a monthly newletter, The Grist, and in the November 1980 issue, I recaptured the day with these words, “It was magic! A heavy mist blanketed the river. First Badger’s head appeared through the mist; then Mole’s red cap followed by Toad’s striped jacket and finally Ratty playing the flute”. It was an Indian summer day when readers of the Hartford Courant the next morning noted an intrigueing article across from the editorial page inviting them to journey out to Farmington and join the animal foursome for lunch. Over one hundred people came to view the spectacle and local photographers, Clare Smith and Frances Haviland captured it on film. An incredulous TV studio called and an interview was arranged with the four artists, Cynthia Cutting, Leah Dodge, Jan Flood and Sarah Williams. The 6 o’clock news on channel 3 captured the joy of the day. It had been fun----for the love of a book and the love of a river.

The 10th anniversary of Millrace Books found it in the middle of its halcyon years. Co-owners June Chapman and Jan Owens toasted the many authors they had honored—Eric Sloan, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Letitia Baldrige, Maya Angelou, William Least Heat Moon, Wallace Tripp, Sandra Boynton, Elisabeth Winthrop, Ellsworth Grant, Dominic Dunne and introduced a local author, Judy Unsworth, who served refreshments from her new book, “The Vegetable Harvest Cookbook”.

Due to the farsightedness of the Farmington Savings Bank and its concern for local landmarks, the mill sat by the river for five years with the bookstore as its sole occupant. When The Friends of the Farmington Library viewed the empty space as a perfect setting for their annual ‘Dickens of a Christmas’ money-maker, the bank said “yes”, and Karen Wasley, Martha Cheshire and their talented team, cleaned and scrubbed and painted the mill interior to house the Boutique and Mary Grace Reed with the help of Millrace brought 19 nationally recognized author-illustrators to speak and autograph their new books. It was a mountain-top event. The mill was smiling and the river was echoing its joy.

Two other memorable ‘Dickens of a Christmas’ events were the years that featured celebrity children’s author-illustrators, Jan Brett and Tasha Tudor. The Robotham barn in Unionville was the setting for the Jan Brett event and the line of fans extended to route 4. Tasha Tudor was honored in the 1784 house at 41 Main Street. A waiting crowd wound down the long driveway while she gave a drawing exhibition at the Farmington Library and then mothers and children basked in her presence in the drawing room as she patiently autographed hundreds of books.

Millrace helped launch “Farmington in Connecticut” by Christopher P. Bickford and in 1989 held a memorable party for author, Barbara Donahue, and photographer, Saren Langmann to present their spectacular book, “Farmington: A New England Town through Time”. The Mill featured prominently in the chapter on the 1955 flood.

In 1995 Mario Zacco bought the mill and a new rescue was underway. He enlarged the parking lot, added a new state-of-the art kitchen and a stairway down to the river. The setting inspired local poet, Pit Pinegar, to capture it on film and pen the words-“Two chairs by the river after rain---“In 1996, Mario honored Millrace Books 25th anniversary by hosting a buffet lunch. Over 100 friends of the bookstore toasted the future in style and marveled at the new windows that Mario had added so the river could be seen from every diner’s table.

Walter Dean Myers came to Farmington to do research for a book about the Amistad Affair. Peg Yung brought him to the bookstore. I like to think it was the setting, so close to where Foone, the freed Sierra Leone native, drowned that influenced him to honor my request and return to Farmington for an autograph party to launch “Amistad: A Long Road to Freedom”. It is the only book that tells the Farmington story in depth.

When searching for ideas to celebrate Millrace’s 30th anniversary, long-time bookstore friend Sue Shepard suggested that we celebrate the river. A week-long event entitled LIGHT ON THE RIVER was planned which included art and photography contests, daily talks about the history of the mill and performances by the newly formed Grist Mill Theatre. Farmington architect, Richard Reinhart, read from his original work, “The Farmington River Story”; Susan Aller introduced her new biography of Mark Twain and discussed his relationship to Farmington and rivers; Plainville historian, Ruth Hummel, introduced a new map of the Farmington Canal with a detailed history of that event.

Poetry day featured George Bradley presenting his poem “Millrace” and winners of the poetry contest were announced.

Charles Affron presented his new biography, “Lillian Gish: Her Legend and Her Life” and a video was shown featuring an excerpt from the 1920 movie, “Down East” featuring the Farmington River scene.

The highlight of the week was the daily presentations by the Grist Mill Theater of “The River Bank’, a one-act play based on the first chapter of Kenneth Grahame’s “The Wind in the Willows”. Seven sixth graders from Irving A. Robbins middle school responded to the audition notice and two casts gave alternate performances every day after school down on the river bank. The sun shone. The actors, under the tutelage of Kimberly Rohback, performed enthusiastically and ended the play each day by sharing their lunch with the audience. The finale of the week featured two Farmington talents, guitarist and vocalist, Lucy Chapin, and violinist and vocalist, Julia Villagra, and awards were made to the winners of ‘The Light on the River’ poetry, photography, prose and art contests.

A river carries with it the knowledge of centuries as it travels untold miles, so when Millrace’s 35 anniversary committee, Nancy Davis, Peggy Sands, Margaret Patricelli, Susan Rohback and Polly Hincks were brainstorming ideas for the celebration, the desire to go beyond ourselves was unanimous.

In 1841, Sierra Leone natives from the Amistad slave ship revolt, freed by the Supreme Court, lived, worked and attended school in Farmington village before returning to their native land. It was decided to hold a benefit dinner to raise money for the new Hope Day Elementary School being built in Freetown, Sierra Leone. On May 7th, 2006 Christine and Anthony Giraulo filled every seat in their Grist Mill restaurant and offered a spectacular 4 course dinner. The event included a special drawing of signed, first-edition books whose authors had been honored by Millrace Books over the past 35 years. The event donated $5000.00 to the Hope Day School Fund.

Perhaps Ratty’s words to Mole were filled with wisdom after all when he said, “Mole, there is nothing, nothing so much worth doing as simply messing about by a river”.