I went down there today for a few hours and just scouted the area. It looks really good! I had known of this mill because my Great Great Uncle was the man who built it and my grandfather had told me about the old mill. I had actually went to it around 10 years ago just to see it, but found out that from that side, I was crossing private property and the landowner was less than curteous, if you catch my drift. I had thought about this site for the last few years. I finally got on google earth and started searching for a "back" way in since he didn't own the land it was on. I found an old road that dead ended at a house about 3 miles upstream from the mill site. I talked to my dad, and it turns out that the man living there was my grandpas mothers sisters son. My dad knew his son, so I decided to go talk to him today. He told me about a 4-wheel drive trail on the back side of his property that his son uses to deer hunt and said it ran alongside the old Federal road and crossed the creek just below the mill site. Couldn't get much easier than that!!!
I spent about an hour learning some history of the mill. He was born in 1913 on the same spot he still lives. He's 95, but still sharp as a tack about details. He said the mill was still operating when he was 7 and burned in 1920. After it burned, my kin still owned it and he said they ended up falling in below the dam and drown. After that it stayed dormant til 1931 when 2 brothers bought it and rebuilt the mill and added to the old dam structure. He said this was a front to make moonshine in the area and they hired him when he was 18 to keep a lookout for them. He said up from the millsite there was a large feild going to the edge of the mountain. The feild was covered in kudzu and they decided it would be best to operate 6 small stills and hide them in the kudzu thickets. He said he got up and went to the woods on the side of the mountain and acted as though he were squirrel hunting. He said as the sun came up, all 6 still could be seen from the mountain where the kudzu had turned brown all around the stills from the smoke killing them through the night. I really got a kick out of this story for some reason. He thought it was pretty funny too how they "outsmarted" thierselves on hiding them.
On another note, I walked up from the mill about a half mile to a place my grandpa had told me about. He said at one time, it was a Cherokee village, and later used to coral horses for the confederacy during the civil war and a base camp. It's definately seen some use in the past, it reminded me of a minuature Horse Pens 40. Large limestone outcroppings on top of a hill over the creek around 30 to 40 foot tall and arranged naturally like large pillars, with a larger area in the center of about an acre of this, protected on all sides. It's a great looking place!
We were able to find the old Federal Warrenton -Brooksville road in the woods. It's depressed deeply into the ground and in a few spots is worn down to solid rock. Lots of history through here, as until 1831, Brooksville crossing was the last outpost before you crossed into the Cherokee land.
I didn't take a camera, but I will next trip and post the pics for you guys!
