Habitat Restoration & Protection Database

The Jordan Millpond Dam, located in the Jordan Village National Register Historic District, was built over 150 years ago to power a mill. The mill property, including the eight-foot high stone masonry dam and retaining wall, is historically significant and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. The dam is privately owned, but Jordan Mill Park, the land on which most of the fishway rests is operated by the Town of Waterford - a 7 acre parcel of waterfront property donated to the Town by the estate of Marian E. Tew in 1954. In 1961, the Gardiner family granted a Right-Of-Way easement to the Town allowing the public to access the park from Mill Street, using a footbridge over Jordan Brook. Because of its historic significance, dam removal was not an option. But the dam, the first on Jordan Brook and at the head of tide, still blocked fish passage.