GRIST MILLS
. . . that served family farms of Etowah Valley . . .
. . . that served family farms of Etowah Valley . . .
|
The remnants of the stacked stone dam on Blythe Mill Creek (former Burns Creek).
Blythe Mill Creek (former Burns Creek) looking downstream from the what's left of the mill pond dam.
Deed research on this mill and the Blythe family connection is in progress. More to come . . .
|
 A barn at the Burns / Blythe Creek mill site.
The mill property (28 acres) was bought by Lawrence Landers' maternal grandparents, Luther and Nettie Justus in December 1948. Lawrence was born in the mill house in 1949. Lawrence’s parents, Neil (Cornelius) Landers and Nettie Christine Justus (daughter of Luther and Nettie), Lawrence and his brothers and sisters lived in the mill building until 1957, at which time they moved to Florida for approximately a year. When they returned from Florida they lived in the Justus grandparents’ house until eventually Neil (Lawrence’s father) tore down the old mill building in 1967. He replaced it with a Jim Walters home (a shell finished by the family on the inside) which still stands today.
Lawrence was told that his Grandfather Luther Justus, Luther’s son Herschel, a man with the last name of Pridmore and his father, Neil, dynamited the dam [that held back the mill pond, now just a swamp]. This occurred before Lawrence was born (1949), and the time of the dynamiting is unknown to him. Neither does he remember having heard a name for the mill. While the creek where the dam stood is called Blythe Mill Creek today, a 1935 Horse Shoe quadrangle map shows the name, Burns Creek. What caused the name change? What was the name (or names) of the mill? Changing creek names on Horse Shoe Quadrangle Maps: 1935 map: Burns Creek 1942 & 1978 maps: Blythe Mill Creek Google Maps, current: Blythe Mill Creek, next to Burns Creek Road What is certain is that the mill house stood until 1967, and there still stands today some of the rock work of the dam. Blythe Mill Creek . . . on a beautiful clear spring day . . . hear the rushing waters of the creek . . . the large boulders in the creek over which there were some small waterfalls . . . the remaining rock work of the dam . . . a place of beauty! What tales those rocks could tell of days gone by when farmers brought their corn to be milled. Wanda Love Etowah Native & Lifelong Resident Photos by permission of Lawrence Landers |
|
According to a local source, a grist mill was located on the "the Brickyard" property, Moland Drysdale Corp. for the employees. |
The mill on Big Willow Creek, circa 1920
The mill today, now a private residence.
A "weight" stone that sat atop the grinding stones.
|
The grist mill on Big Willow Creek , circa 1920. Jesse Pritchard Huggins Sr. (1892-1976) bought the mill property from James A. Brock (1856-1932) in 1932. (Source: Terry Ruscin)
According to J.P. Huggins Jr., his father operated the mill for 12-15 years, until the onset of WWII. The original mill was on the bottom level with a mill stone imported from England via Charleston. The second level milling operation contained a French Burr stone, purchased by J. P. Huggins, Sr.
Coming soon, J.P. Jr. describes what it was like working in the mill as a young boy: " . . . You'd have to watch 'cause everybody wanted their mill just a little bit finer, just a little bit finer." Memories of the Old Mill
Big Willow by Jeannie Huggins Revis, b. 1932 To say that it was the greatest place on God’s green earth to be born and raised by the mill would be under defining the joy, pleasure and happiness I experienced as a child.
My first recollection that there was a mill is from about two years old. It was hot, and we were still living in what we referred to as the “Old House” (the house where I was born). It was across the road from the mill and on a high bank overlooking the mill and shoals as well as the millpond that later became the love of my life. [continued] Read Jeannie's full story 
Big Willow Creek
L & above, MIll stones from the days when Jesse Pritchard Huggins operated the mill, 1932 to early 1940's.
|
Willow Creek Mill photos courtesy of
Barbara Hudson, Bob Edwards, Jean Huggins
Barbara Hudson, Bob Edwards, Jean Huggins
Are there additional old mill sites? More information to be discovered? A work in progress.