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Donnie took me for a picnic lunch and Heritage Mill Tour at Yates Mill yesterday. It was a really sunny day and reasonably warm, and it sure was nice to be feeling good enough to be out and about a bit.
Let me start by showing you a 16 image pano of the inside of the mill that I created using Microsoft ICE. Tip: Never include a person at least not one that is in more than one of the shots. I had to put Tom's head back on manually...not good.
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Link to Yates Mill History
One of the special things about Yates Mill is that it is still capable of grinding both corn (left) and wheat (right). Very early in the mill's existence, the mill was redesigned with a flour grinding system that used the technique patented (3rd US Patent) by Oliver Evans. George Washington was president and Thomas Jefferson was running the patent office according to our tour guide yesterday. Isn't that neat?!? Besides the Heritage Tour that Donnie and I were on yesterday, you can come for a Corn Grinding Tour or a Technology Tour. I really need to go back for a Technology Tour when I can go up on the 2nd flour and peek into the 3rd flour.
A couple of other things worth noting in this picture. Although the mill was heavily damaged after Hurricane Fran in 1996 when the mill pond damn collapsed, many of the original wood is was salvaged. Inside the mill you can see graffiti from some of the original people that worked in and frequented the mill.
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There are several French Burr millstones at the mill besides the ones still in use (pictured is Tom who was yesterday's miller and another person on the tour):
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There are some other very interesting artifacts to photograph:
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The mill did run yesterday, and it's neat to be inside the mill when that happens. The rumble and the vibration the wheel makes is cool. Donnie and Tom were talking, and I overheard them talking about 10 horsepower capacity. I also think I heard Tom say 300lbs. of corn in an hour.
From under the mill:
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Video
The mill also boasts a barrel packer:
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and several old fashioned corn shelling machines including one that can be run by the water wheel:
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Notice the hole in the roof and the belt that's hanging but not currently hooked up to the wheel on the machine.
I didn't work to get any great shots of the mill yesterday. The light was intense and the sky was flat. But here's Tom right before he started the wheel:
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If you've never seen a water wheel fire up, it starts out with a huge burst of water over the wheel which I've pictured as my daily and then quickly quiets down to mostly the turn of the wheel. I've sat on the rocks near the mill for over an hour before as the wheel was turned on and off capturing photographically pleasing milky smooth shots of the water coming out over the wheel, but I also like the intensity of this (POTD) regular shot showing the power of the water as it rushes out. As the wheel continues to run, by 30-45 seconds after it starts, all you see really is this tiny splash left at the bottom as the water spills through.
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A big thanks to Donnie for taking me on the tour. The last time I went I had the kids, and I wasn't able to focus on taking pictures or the real history as well as I was yesterday.
I'll leave you with this parting video of the waterwheel running taken out of the shed beside the mill looking down.
Video
2 comments:
These are great. However, the thought of manually putting someone's head back on tickled me. :)
Well, I just realized you have no idea who this is. It's Tracy. I just signed up, so practice makes perfect.
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