Gay City State Park in Hebron and Bolton, Connecticut, preserves both a varied natural landscape and the remains of a vanished mill village on the Blackledge River. First settled in 1796 by Elijah Andrus and his followers, the community grew around saw, wool, and paper mills and was first known as Factory Hollow. Repeated fires, including the destruction of mills in 1830 and 1879, and other setbacks led to the village’s decline and disappearance. Sold to the state in 1943 and opened as a state park soon after, the site now combines ghost town ruins, woodland, marsh, a millpond, and recreation trails.