Abandoned Towns
The Emory Johnson homestead at Johnsonville: a white two-storey house with a columned porch, dark shutters and a white picket fence under a clear sky

Mill, lumber and company town

Johnsonville Village

A twine-mill village on the Moodus River that an aerospace millionaire remade as a Victorian attraction, then abandoned in 1994. A church bought it in 2017 and worships in the chapel. The buildings stand along Johnsonville Road.

41°29′26″N 72°27′59″W · ≈100 ft

Photo: John Phelan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Private church property · 2026 report

Johnsonville has belonged to the Iglesia ni Cristo since July 2017. The church renovated the 1876 chapel at 50 Johnsonville Road, dedicated it as a house of worship on February 1, 2025, and held a planting day on the grounds on October 3, 2026. Its pages say nothing about public tourist visits. One photographer describes an owner-led tour in March 2024. Do not enter the grounds without permission.

Overview

One man's Victorian village

The covered bridge, November 2024
The covered bridge, November 2024 · Photo: John Phelan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Johnsonville sits on the Moodus River in the Moodus section of East Haddam, between the Moodus and Salmon rivers that powered its mills. The Neptune Mill went up beside a dam in 1832 and became a major maker of twine. Emory Johnson built his house above the river in 1846, added the Triton Mill at the head of the millpond in 1862 and took over the Neptune Mill in 1867. The housing he put up for his workers became the village that carries his name. The Triton Mill burned in 1924.

The place a visitor sees today is mostly one man's idea. Raymond Schmitt, who owned the AGC Corporation, bought the Neptune Mill from the Johnson family in 1965 and spent the next decades turning Johnsonville into a Victorian village. He moved in old buildings, among them an 1876 chapel from Waterford in 1969 and a Victorian stable, floated a sternwheeler from the Freedomland amusement park on the millpond in 1966, and hosted weddings. Connecticut Public called him an aerospace millionaire. The Neptune Mill was lost to lightning in 1972. After a zoning fight with the town, Schmitt shut the attraction in 1994, and when he died in 1998 his estate sold off antiques and some of the buildings.

A hotel company bought the property in 2001, had a mixed-use plan rejected in 2004, listed the village for just under $3 million in 2013 and sent it to auction in 2014, where a $1.9 million bid fell through. On July 7, 2017, the Iglesia ni Cristo, a church based in the Philippines, bought the 62 acres for $1.85 million. It restored the chapel, dedicated it on February 1, 2025, and uses the grounds as a church compound. The village is private, but the covered bridge, the mill dam, the homestead and the chapel stand along Johnsonville Road.

Timeline

Twine mill, theme village, church

The Johnson mill dam, with the village's name on the wall, November 2023
The Johnson mill dam, with the village's name on the wall, November 2023 · Photo: John Phelan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
  1. The Neptune Mill goes up beside a dam near Salmon River Cove. It becomes a major producer of twine.
  2. Emory Johnson builds his homestead: four bedrooms, three fireplaces and the Victorian trim that still shows from the road.
  3. Johnson builds the Triton Mill at the north end of the millpond. Housing for the workers follows, and the village takes his name.
  4. Johnson acquires the Neptune Mill.
  5. Gilead Chapel is built in Waterford, Connecticut. It will be moved here 93 years later.
  6. Fire destroys the Triton Mill.
  7. Raymond Schmitt, owner of the AGC Corporation, buys the Neptune Mill from the Johnson family and starts moving in vintage buildings.
  8. Schmitt floats a sternwheeler on the millpond. It was later identified as "The Canadian" from the Freedomland U.S.A. amusement park, not "The American" as once reported.
  9. The 1876 chapel arrives from Waterford.
  10. Lightning strikes the Neptune Mill and it burns to the ground.
  11. Part of Billy Joel's "River of Dreams" video is filmed in the village.
  12. Schmitt shuts the attraction after a zoning dispute with the town and puts the property up for sale.
  13. Schmitt dies. His estate sells off antiques and some of the buildings.
  14. Hotel developer MJABC LLC buys the property, which Wikipedia gives as 64 acres and later reports as 62.
  15. MJABC's mixed-use plan is rejected as too dense.
  16. Listed for just under $3 million.
  17. An online auction ends with a $1.9 million bid. The sale subsequently falls through; Wikipedia does not establish why.
  18. The Iglesia ni Cristo, a church based in the Philippines, buys the 62 acres for $1.85 million.
  19. The church establishes its Johnsonville congregation.
  20. Following renovation begun in 2024 and costing $558,792, the chapel is dedicated as a house of worship.
  21. Three of the church's districts hold a planting day on the grounds. East Haddam's first selectman helps plant a cherry tree.

What's left

What you can see from the road

The chapel, built in Waterford in 1876 and moved here in 1969, November 2023
The chapel, built in Waterford in 1876 and moved here in 1969, November 2023 · Photo: John Phelan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
The schoolhouse, November 2023
The schoolhouse, November 2023 · Photo: John Phelan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Johnsonville Road runs through the village between CT 151 and CT 149, with a white picket fence and iron lamp posts along the homestead's lawn. From the road you can see the Emory Johnson homestead of 1846, with its columned porch and bracketed eaves, the board-and-batten chapel with its steeple and blue doors, the one-room schoolhouse with a cupola, the covered bridge in the trees, the carriage house with its own cupola, and the stone mill dam, where the water pours over a wall lettered JOHNSONVILLE. Wikipedia's list of buildings adds a general store and a post office. The chapel is in use for services. The carriage-house photograph was taken during an owner-led tour in March 2024, not from the public road. The church's directory lists 42 Johnsonville Road, while its 2025 chapel report gives 50; confirm the appropriate entrance directly with the owner.

The 1944 USGS sheet, in the historic maps below, labels Johnson Mill Pond with a cluster of buildings at its outlet, and the 1961 sheet shows the village filled out along the road, with a sand pit above the pond. Today's map labels the Johnson Millpond, Johnsonville Road and Dykas Brook, and the aerial view shows the buildings and lawns along the road below the pond.

  • Emory Johnson homestead (1846)
  • Chapel (1876, moved here 1969)
  • Schoolhouse
  • Covered bridge
  • Carriage house
  • Mill dam and millpond
  • General store and post office buildings
  • Neptune Mill site (burned 1972)
  • Triton Mill site (burned 1924)
USGS topographic map of Johnsonville with the Johnson Millpond, Johnsonville Road, Dykas Brook and the Moodus River
USGS The National Map, topo. The village lies along Johnsonville Road below the Johnson Millpond; the Moodus River runs to the cove at the left.
Aerial view of Johnsonville: buildings and lawns along a road below a millpond, with woods and fields around
Aerial imagery, same area. The millpond is at the top; the village's roofs and lawns line the road running south from it.

Historic maps

Johnsonville Village on USGS maps, 1944–1961

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Johnsonville Village, 1944
Deep River sheet, 1944, 1:31,680 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Middletown is the nearest city, about 27 minutes away by CT 66 and CT 151. From Hartford, CT 2 and CT 149 get you there in about 43 minutes. Both cached routes stop on Johnsonville Road near the southern end of the mapped village area, roughly 0.4 mile south of the photographed chapel and homestead. These routes do not establish permission to enter the grounds.

USGS topographic map between Middletown and Johnsonville with the route drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From downtown Middletown14.1 miabout 27 min
  1. From downtown Middletown, take Main Street (CT 66), then follow CT 17/CT 66 east as Marlborough Street and the Portland-Cobalt Road.6.3 mi
  2. Turn right onto Middle Haddam Road (CT 151) and follow CT 151 south as Moodus Road and Leesville Road.7.3 mi
  3. Turn right onto Johnsonville Road. The village is along it.0.5 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • The village is private church property. Look from Johnsonville Road and don't walk onto the grounds without permission.
  • Services are held in the chapel. Keep your distance from worshippers and parked cars on service days.
  • Johnsonville Road is paved, with a picket fence and lamp posts along the village, as the November 2023 photos show.

Photos

Johnsonville in photos

Visitor reports

Been to Johnsonville Village?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Johnsonville Village

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Connecticut index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. Wikipedia, "Johnsonville Village, Connecticut", retrieved October 2026: the mills and their dates, the homestead, Schmitt's purchase and the buildings he moved in, the sternwheeler, the fires, the video, the 1994 closure, the 2001 sale, the 2004 plan, the 2013 listing, the 2014 auction, the 2017 sale, the list of buildings, and coordinates.
  2. Connecticut Public, "Sold! Abandoned Village of Johnsonville Sells for $1.9 Million in Online Auction", October 30, 2014: the auction, the $2.9 million asking price, the 62 acres, the twine mill, Schmitt as an aerospace millionaire, the Victorian homes, chapel and steamboat, weddings, and the 1994 closure.
  3. Iglesia ni Cristo, "Renovated chapel dedicated by the Iglesia Ni Cristo in Johnsonville, CT", February 9, 2025: the February 1, 2025 dedication, the chapel's 1876 Waterford origin and 1969 move, the renovation dates and cost, the 2017 purchase, the 2018 congregation, and the address.
  4. Iglesia ni Cristo, "'So nature-like': 3 US districts' beautification project transforms Johnsonville", October 16, 2026: the October 3, 2026 planting day, the compound's use, and the first selectman's visit.
  5. INC Media, "Ghost Town Johnsonville in East Haddam Off the Market": the Moodus section, Schmitt's 1960s and 1970s attraction, the restaurant, stables, lake and chapel, and the church's restoration priority.
  6. Iglesia ni Cristo directory, Johnsonville, read October 2026: congregation listing and 42 Johnsonville Road address, which differs from the 50 Johnsonville Road address in its 2025 chapel report. The directory is for worship, not tourist opening hours.
  7. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited below each one. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits