Mingus Mill - Reflections for a rainy day.....
Behind my house the normal view of Chilhowee Mtn is today obscured
by rain and low clouds, but inside on my monitor I've been enjoying views of Mingus Mill. I've compiled and uploaded
a collection of photos taken during some of my visits to this historic mill and the nearby little-used hiking trail. If you've never visited
this place, located near the Oconaluftee visitor center and Smokemont campground on the North Carolina side of the Smokies,
then you are in for a treat. I'm guessing that hardly any of my website readers have actually hiked the Mingus Creek
trail all the way up to Newton Bald. The photos in this collection were taken along that route and include a few
unusual items:
Of course there are lots of photos of the mill. This mill was originally built by the Mingus family who came to the area from Germany in 1790. The mill used
to be an overshot water wheel mill but was converted to its present-day Leffel-powered turbine configuration. The cast iron turbine generates about 11 horsepower and is used to power all of the machinery in the building (grinding
wheels, belt conveyors and bolting machines). The building was originally constructed in 1886 and has been reconditioned
a couple of times since.
The mill still runs as a historical exhibit and when it is open you can
watch the miller grinding wheat and/or corn (usually from mid-March to mid-November). Wikipedia has a good write-up about
the mill and you can link to their page here (scroll down their page about 2/3 to find the Mingus Mill story on Wiki). Discovercherokee.com is another website with
more info and some good photos of the interior of the mill. Finally, the best overall story of the mill I've found is on an imagesbuilder.com webpage linked here. Enjoy.
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