Dam Gears

In many posts, I've referred to a millpond, and it's the real thing. The dam I've highlighted was built to create the pond and use its waterpower to mill grain, chiefly Johnnycake, a.k.a. white flint, corn that was a favorite breakfast item on the plates of colonists and local farmers. Naturalist-photographers, too. The iron gears on this wooden gate were used to raise and lower the contraption to let water into a sluiceway that would then power the millstones. When we first moved to the area some 30 years ago, the mill was still in operation—the farmer-owner even grew the corn—but I doubt the cornmeal business ever brought in much revenue, so it was shuttered and, eventually, put up for sale. I don't think the sluiceway gate has moved for more than a decade, and I'm not at all certain the milling apparatus would work anymore. That said, if any dreamer with money would like to learn a classic trade, the mill  remains on the market.