The Connecticut Antique Machinery Association (CAMA) in Kent, CT is is a museum dedicated to the preservation, restoration and demonstration of antique machinery from our rich industrial and agricultural past. Just like Cider Mill Friends, CAMA is a non-profit organization of all volunteers (no paid staff). Recently CMF and CAMA partnered up with CAMA providing CMF a long term loan of a stationary engine similar to the one that used to power the cider press at the Kimlin Cider Mill.
The first Kimlin cider press in the late 1800s was a simple press that was powered by a horse walking in a circle around the press and the cider was drained through straw. Kimlin family lore tells us where the original press was located on the west side of Cedar Avenue. In 2023, CMF partnered with Vassar College to have some archaeology done in the presumed area of the original press.
Professor Ryan Rybka was teaching the course “Archaeology: Lessons from the Past”, which is as introductory archaeology class, and so he used the Kimlin cider press “ground truthing” as part of the class.
They performed two days of field work (shovel test pits) and then wrote up a report of the results. The most decisive evidence for this being the location of the original cider mill is that one of the test pits located a vertically positioned wooden post. More work is needed, but we are grateful for the efforts of Professor Rybka and his students and glad that we could provide an opportunity for the class to do some archaeology for us.
Thanks to one of our volunteers, Kyle Neiswender, you can view the Cafe room with this 360 degree photo taken in June 2021.
Click here to navigate through the photo. The below image is just stationary.
As part of an Eagle Scout project, a Boy Scout designed, created, and installed three new farm gates along the stone wall on the Mill property.
A while ago a Boy Scout approached us to ask if we had any projects that he could use as his Eagle Scout project. We decided on an informational kiosk to be placed near the Mill. This project was completed in October 2013.
The front facade of the Mill contained some rotten wood and the paint was no longer fresh. With the help of a carpenter and numerous volunteers, the facade was given an update with some new wood boards and a fresh coat of paint. In addition, some of the doors were changed, and new plexiglass placed in the windows.
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A Boy Scout’s Eagle Scout project dealt with a dilapidated shed on the north end of the Mill. The shed was used to store apples prior to processing into cider. By 2012 the shed was in severe disrepair and so we removed all but the road-side wall and the Boy Scout replaced it with a pergola in the footprint of the old shed.
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Cider Mill Friends 