mill musings

MILL MUSINGS
A Publication of the Museum of Power and Industry, Inc.
Volume XIX Number 1
February 2015
COLD INSIDE AND OUT!
Winter at Falls Mill can be beautiful, but also challenging. Staying warm is a challenge, keeping ice off
the waterwheel gear is a challenge, keeping cold belts flexible and bearings warm, well, you get the
idea. Seems like the first hour of every workday is spent limbering up the machinery. Not an easy task
when the indoor temperature is 40 degrees!
In spite of the cold, December was our most productive month ever. Usually we mill between 25,000
and 30,000 pounds of grain in a month. In December we processed nearly 50,000 pounds. Trust me,
everyone was ready for the Christmas break. Now that we are back in the daily routine we are doing
our best to keep orders filled. Traditionally we shut down over New Year's for maintenance and
repairs. John spent this winter break rebuilding a set of millstones for a bakery in Ohio. As is always
the case, old equipment takes much more time to restore than you think it will. The project that he
estimated could be completed in 2 weeks wound up taking 6 weeks and over 250 hours. At last the
Nordyke and Marmon under runner mill is ready to be put into use. The Blue Oven Bakery in
Cincinnati will be its new home. The mill stones were purchased from the estate of former museum
member S.R.(Tank) Gorin, and they originally operated in a mill near McMinnville, Tennessee.
John cutting the spout below the runner stone
Using the John Deere to test the stones
A wonderful article was included in area newspapers in January featuring Falls Mill by writer Philip
Lorenz III of Sewanee. Mr. Lorenz came by on a busy day in December and witnessed first hand just
how harried the place can be when you are printing, milling, and boxing up 1000 pounds of grits to
ship out. In spite of the chaos he wrote a great article about the mill's operation and history that was
published in the Herald Chronicle in Winchester and the Tullahoma News.
SORGHUM SYRUP IN SEPTEMBER
Last fall's sorghum squeezing day was great fun. With the help of a dozen museum
members and friends, and a willing pair of mules, we were able to squeeze 70 gallons of juice
that cooked down to 13 quarts of syrup. John had devised a way to transport the juice to the
cooking pans using gravity flow instead of muscle, and this proved a great help. David & Ann
Tapp of Belvidere raised the cane once again on their farm. Special thanks are offered this
year to Frank and Lee Ann Turpin for running the 4 wheeler before the mules arrived. A.C.
Nunley brought his beautiful team of mules to turn the sweep and Cecil and Theresa Price
helped with their cooking and canning expertise, as did Mervin Mast. We especially enjoyed
working with Harold Jones, owner of Jones Hardware in Huntland, Tennessee (pictured below
feeding the cane into the press) who finally came to visit Falls Mill after doing business with
us for 30 years. John will be planting sorghum seed on our farm this year. We'd like to thank
Vivien Gore Kubricht for bringing her tractor over this winter to plow the spot on the farm
where the cane will be raised. Harold Jones and the Tapps also plan to raise sorghum.
SPECIAL VISITORS AND EVENTS
The fall is always a busy time with school groups and bus tours but last year we had a few
extra special visitors that made the trip to Belvidere. In September the Bicycle Ride Across
Tennessee (BRAT) made a stop here on their way to Tims Ford State Park. Over 130
athletes participated in the 7-day journey that covers different regions of the state each year.
Riders from the U.S. and several other countries enjoyed the beauty of southern middle
Tennessee during the 300 plus mile trip.
In November we were thrilled to finally meet quilt artist Kathy McNeil and her husband Bruce.
Kathy was in Nashville filming a program on her landscape quilting technique. Bruce and
Kathy took the tour of the mill and were able to see where her work of art was on display in
the weaving room. After a quick lunch of homemade soup, cornbread and apple pie the two
made their way back to Nashville before returning to there home in Washington State.
DONATIONS TO THE MUSEUM
With work continuing on the weaving room exhibits, we were pleased to acquire another spinning
wheel to put on display. Byron W.(Bill) Ferguson III donated a high wheel (also known as Colonial or
walking wheel) used by his ancestors in White County, Tennessee, during the 1850's. Mr. Ferguson
lives in Hampton Cove near Huntsville. Local woodworking artist and friend Tom Cowan has
volunteered to make the missing parts for the wheel. We would also like to acknowledge the Paul
Holloway family of Huntland for donating a 1949 Ford 8N Tractor. Our old John Deere is still in use,
but the Ford is much easier to start and maneuver, especially when bush hogging the farm. Frank
Turpin fine tuned the engine and got it in top running condition. We are always working to improve the
landscaping at Falls Mill and this year donations from Don Shadow of Shadow Nursery and Mr. Larry
Shockley of Belvidere have helped us enhance the natural beauty of the area. Don Shadow made a
contribution of several oak leaf hydrangea and crape myrtle bushes to be sold at our 30th anniversary
party. Most of the shrubs went on to new homes but a few were planted along the mill race and by the
stone stairs leading to the waterwheel. Mr. Shockley's gift of several Gingko trees will bring beautiful
color to the grounds in the fall.
Once again, the Camp-Younts Foundation has generously awarded the museum another grant of
$2,000 for use in educational programs and exhibit development. Our thanks are extended to Laurie
and Hal Atkinson for their parts in helping us receive this grant.
BROAD LOOM REPAIRS
John has been working the last several months on parts for the large power loom, or broad loom, in
the weaving exhibit room of the mill. The loom last operated making Army blankets during World War
II. All parts that controlled patterns in the fabric were removed and lost when our museum acquired the
loom. John found an old woodcut print and a couple of mid-nineteenth century patent records that
helped determine how the mechanism operated and what the parts looked like. John then had to
figure out the sizes of the parts and how they interconnected to allow the mechanism to function. This
took considerable trial and error, fabricating wooden parts as patterns to see how everything was
originally designed. The wooden parts and drawings have now been sent to Bob Vitale's metal
fabrication shop in Franklin, North Carolina, for manufacture. Bob is a friend of the museum and
enjoys a challenge, so we are anxiously anticipating his metal duplicates from the wooden patterns.
This loom is the oldest known broad loom manufactured by the Crompton Loom Works of Worcester,
Massachusetts, and the only one left with this type of pattern mechanism.
SOUTHERN TENNESSEE LADIES' SOCIETY
On February 4, Janie spoke to the Southern Tennessee Ladies' Society at the Franklin County
Country Club. She described the mill and its history and served our grits at the luncheon. She also
handed out souvenir bags of grits to the 93 attendees. She is scheduled to present a special exhibit
February 21 – 22 at Burritt Museum in Huntsville, in association with the meeting of the Southeast
Region of the Association of Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums.
LOST FRIENDS
With regret we acknowledge the deaths of several friends and museum supporters during the last few
months. Our special friend Alice Fay Vanzant died July 30, 2014 after a long struggle against cancer.
Harry Fanning passed away December 4, 2014. Harry was a talented artist and historian, and took a
great interest in the mill and our activities. Marydell Willis, a neighbor and friend, died January 11,
2015. Her husband Russ, a retired machinist, had helped us on several museum projects. Finally, we
have just received word that James Lester Knoer passed away in Huntland. He was the grandfather of
Ashely and Lindsey Knoer, who have worked for us, and father of Bobby Knoer. We extend our
sympathy to the families of these departed friends.
________________________________________________________________________________
Check your museum membership card, and if it is time to renew, please join us at the
Museum of Power and Industry, Inc., at Falls Mill for another year! Your membership
fee and any donation you care to make are so important to us in continuing the work
we have undertaken these last 30 years. Thank you for your contribution.
Check the contact/calendar page of the website fallsmill.com for special events.
INDIVIDUAL/FAMILY MEMBERSHIP
$25.00 per year ___________
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The Museum of Power and Industry, Inc.
Falls Mill
134 Falls Mill Rd.
Belvidere, TN 37306