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For Sale: Abandoned Connecticut Village

Legend has it -- and auctioneers have exploited the notion -- that Johnsonville is haunted.

Online bidding begins on Tuesday for an entire village in Connecticut named Johnsonville, an abandoned village in the Moodus section of East Haddam.

In the 1870s, it was a thriving mill town, using the power of the Moodus River to make twine for fishing nets. In the 1960s, aerospace millionaire Raymond Scmitt purchased most of the property in town, including the last twine mill, and brought in Victorian homes, a chapel, and a steamboat, remaking Johnsonville into a Victorian era-themed tourist attraction. The quaint setting made Johnsonville a local mecca for wedding celebrations.

Credit RM Bradley Co.
The entire village of Johnsonville is on the auction block. Johnsonville is part of East Haddam.

A dispute with town officials in 1994 caused Schmitt to abruptly shut down the village. Schmitt died in 1998, and the land was purchased by developers who had hoped to build apartments on the site. A lack of sewers thwarted that plan.

A hotel developer then bought the 62-acre parcel, but later decided to sell the land.

For 20 years, Johnsonville has been abandoned.

The village has a general store, a chapel, a meeting house, a covered bridge, and several homes. "It survives today as a pretty good representation of a little mill village," said The Day columnist David Collins, who recently wrote an article about Johnsonville. Legend has it -- and auctioneers have exploited the notion -- that Johnsonville is haunted.

RM Bradley Co.

Collins said the little village is far from scary. "The buildings are all empty, but it looks pretty good. Obviously, some paint work [is needed] here and there, and some shutters are off here and there, but I wouldn't say it was a creepy Halloween feeling," he said. "In general, it looks pretty interesting, pretty good."

Bidding is taking place on the online auction site auction.com. In case you're wondering -- or perhaps you're in the market for an abandoned Victorian mill village -- bidding begins at $800,000, and continues through Thursday.

Ray Hardman is Connecticut Public’s Arts and Culture Reporter. He is the host of CPTV’s Emmy-nominated original series Where Art Thou? Listeners to Connecticut Public Radio may know Ray as the local voice of Morning Edition, and later of All Things Considered.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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Connecticut Public’s journalism is made possible, in part by funding from Jeffrey Hoffman and Robert Jaeger.