Winsted's Union Pin Company: Highland Lake and Pins Still in the Soil

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Photo courtesy of the Winchester Tax Office Pins in the Brook: The Last Ruins of the Union Pin Company J and I came at it through the trees. No path, just tall standing trees and the kind of undergrowth that swats at your shins and grabs your laces, until the canopy thinned and we found what was left. A turbine, tall and rusted, rising out of the woods beside a brook in Winsted, Connecticut. A small generator sat on top of it, also rusted, also still. Beside that, set back from the tree line and facing the residential houses across Lake Street, a sealed and boarded building held its ground. It was August 2019, midday, the kind of heat that slows everything down. We photographed the turbine carefully, then picked our way downstream along the slippery rocks of the brook that fed toward the Mad River past Boyd Street. What J never mentioned, and what I never thought to look for, was the hydropower outlet tucked behind the thick trees just off the path we'd taken. And neither of us eve...
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Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 19, 2026 at 11:19 PM

    I worked there as a night watchman - security person. I would have a heavy key and move from station to station every hour. There was a building across the street too. Very scary area. This was in the before the fire. Early 70's.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kareem KingMay 20, 2026 at 4:51 PM

      Hello reader, I apologize for the confusion. Which post are you referring to?

      Delete

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