mineralogists noted the presence of previously undiscovered minerals lodged in pegmatite there and furnished funds to expand the operation. Historians say the mine produced between seven and nine minerals until then unknown, including one that was named reddingite. Over time, the mine would produce quantities of quartz, feldspar, mica, beryl, spodumene and columbite. Another unique geological feature is the bedrock close to the train station. It is composed of nearly pure and massive garnet. Gilbert & Bennett factory In 1834, Gilbert & Bennett Co. purchased the site of a former comb mill alongside the Norwalk River in the Georgetown section of Redding, and began producing wire mesh cloth for varying uses, in time to include sieves and window screens. In 1863, Gilbert & Bennett built a facility at the site for drawing metal wire. During World War I, the U.S. military adapted the company's products for camouflage netting, gas masks and trench liners; and during World War II, for signal corps uses. A private equity group purchased the company in 1985, and began relocating operations elsewhere. In 1987, the Gilbert & Bennett site was included as part of the Georgetown Historic District listing on the National Register of Historic Places. In a 1987 nomination document for the National Register of HIstoric Places, proponents cited Gilbert & Bennett as an "anachronism" in the history of U.S. industry and labor. "Peaceful, tree-lined residential streets converge on a functioning industrial complex; well-preserved historic houses stand cheek-by-jowl with modern factories; the deteriorated slum neighborhoods associated with modern industry do not exist," the nomination states. "The elite of Georgetown, almost exclusively people associated with Gilbert and Bennett, lived in the midst of their workers. The predictable ethnic neighborhoods did exist in Georgetown, outside the district for the most part, but their employees were apparently encouraged to occupy, or build houses next to the mansions of the managers and officers." In 1999, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designated the factory pond and surrounding land a federal Superfund site to spur the remediation of pollution there. Multiple developers have since attempted to finance the construction of a village development at the Gilbert & Bennett site, to include a mix of residential and commercial buildings. On the National Register of Historic Places Aaron Barlow House Daniel and Esther Bartlett House Georgetown Historic District Putnam Memorial State Park Redding Center Historic District Umpawaug District School On the Connecticut Historic