Old Grist Mills and Big Snakes

I’m sure most of us have heard our elders talking about taking corn or wheat to a Grist Mill and having it ground into corn mill, flour or scratch feed for the chickens. This was a common practice during the eighteen hundreds and even through the first half of the twentieth century.

Grist Mills were built along large creeks in just about every part of our country. Farmers would load several toe sacks of corn on their backs, their wagons or vehicles if’en they had one, and take it to the mill to be ground. People didn’t have much hard cash back in the day so the Miller would take a percentage of the meal for grinding it. When the people returned home the meal was put in the pantry and hopefully the weevils wouldn’t get in it too bad before time to grind some more.

The actual mill was usually a two story wooden structure with loading docks on one end and the mill pond on the other. Inside would be at least two milling stones, all size shafts, gears and belts. Outside the paddle wheel was turned by the water to power the mill. Most mills were built out of heart pine. This plus the dusty dry conditions and the heat generated by the equipment would catch on fire in a heartbeat if everything was not properly greased and maintained.

The Miller had to be a jack of all trades for the mill to operate. Most mills employed two or more local people. Sometimes when a Millwright couldn’t be found locally they were hired from off and their family would move into a house close to the mill. My Dad worked at Capel’s Mill until he was drafted in the Second World War. When he got out in forty-five, he planned to go back to work at the mill but the mill burnt down one day before his discharge from the Army. He really missed this place and had a lot of fond memories of the mill. After I was born we had a lot of picnics and fishing trips on the old mill pond.

Saturdays, especially the evening, were the busiest time at the mills. Farmers would have most of their work caught up for the week or just wanted to take a break from their hard work. Their whole families would head out for the mill. It was like going to town for the rural folk. While waiting in line to get their corn ground, the men would talk about farming and the weather, while the women did their socializing. The children got to do their things also like skip rocks, swim, or fish in the mill pond. It was just a nice family outing.

Off the top of my head I can think of a few grist mills that operated in Richmond Co. like Everett’s Mill which was on Marks Creek toward Cheraw; Capel’s Mill and Baldwin’s Mill which were on Big Mountain Creek in the northern end of the County; Peggy’s Mill in the southeast part of the Co. and Camp Millstone northeast of Ellerbe where the grind stones were actually mined and cut. Also there was a big grist mill in Scotland Co. known as X-Way Mill which may still operate. I’m sure there were a lot more. When electricity came around, mills that could went all electric but most went by the wayside. Most of the old mills are gone now, replaced with newer and more modernized ones. A few still have their dams and mill ponds left. Those that are left are a product of a by-gone era.

If you travel to the actual mill site you will most likely find old chimneys, piles of rocks and cement covered with lots of vines and vegetation. This is where the snakes come in!!!! Snakes like this type of environment, especially where there are mice and a good water supply.

Next week I’ll tell you about my encounter with a rather large serpent, while hunting around one of these old abandoned grist mills. Folks you don’t won’t to miss this one cause it gets interesting, don’t you know!!!