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Steve Spring
CAPTURING OUR HERITAGE.
Thanks for viewing my photos of yesteryear. Many years ago I enjoyed photographing our American cultural heritage...buildings and places of days gone by. When I moved back to Virginia, my interests gravitated to old grist mills with water wheels.
In the days before cars and supermarkets, before modern methods of manufacture were developed, the settlers who carved a living out of the wilderness worked hard to provide the basic necessities of life. One of the most important mechanical devices used by early families to make life a little easier was the mill.
At a time when steam engines and electricity were still in the future, mills harnessed the natural power of moving water. Though mills were built for many purposes, perhaps the most common were the grist mills, which ground grain for bread and feed for animals. Grain milling is one of the oldest industries in the history of mankind...The people went out and gathered it and ground it in mills (Numbers 11:8)...
Once there were hundreds of mills scattered along streams and rivers throughout the country. Now most are gone, replaced by modern methods and electricity. My quest now is to document those mills that are still standing and perhaps provide a little history.
Comments and suggestions are welcome. And thanks again for viewing my photos.
Steve Spring, Millfoto Photography
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Steve! Check out this beauty in Italy! http://www.panoramio.com/photo/67272085
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I sometimes work with Robert Staples of of the family who ran the old mill in Richmond. I could ask him the next time I work with him, but it might be a while before that happens.
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Steve, Great pictures! Do you know the history of the mill? I am interested in Sprenkle mills.
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Nice picture and research!
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In the late 1960's, I was talked out of buying this property for use as a home. It was available with 3 acres for $1500. It had 12" of pidgeon droppings under the roof, and all of the mill machinery except the engine. The interior was not too bad... maple floors, wooden grain shoots, no window frames, and a variety of stored items i.e. school desks, auto grill, etc. Across the street was an antique store, which had once been the general store, in stone. Somewhere, I have a wooden repaired hoisting block that was used to lift grain to the upper floor... the holes for the lifting structure are visable on the photo of the mill front. The person who owned it worked on the line for Ford assembly plant in STL, and said he had inherited the property. Imagine $1500 asking price... at that time it was so far out in the country that I couldn't envision owning it. Even today, Hope, Mo. is far away... although I seem to remember the best building in town was the Post Office.
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Nice image. This one is on my list to visit next time in Campbell County.
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Beautiful. I will have to visit this place.
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Thank you, one of my first attempts at HDR Photography.
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I'm really curious about the history of this mill. I found it on a trip through western MD. I stopped and took a few photos as well. Does anyone know where I can find the history on it? All I could find was a 1994 photo on Google (still abandoned looking but less cars).
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Steve, I found an old photo of the original Cecil's Mill in a the Valley Lee Post Office. I went in to inquire about the engine they have set up as a monument to the old mill in front of the Post Office and discovered that the location of the original Cecil's Mill is where the Post Office now sits. I also got a six second video of the Cecil's Mill water wheel in action. It's the mill you have posted here. I need to figure out how to post in on GE. I had to doctor the photo a little to get rid of the reflection of the overhead florescent light glare. http://www.panoramio.com/photo/82865012
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