MABRY MILL

We visited Mabry Mill during our recent ride along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Edwin Boston Mabry began constructing this mill in 1903.  First it was a blacksmith and wheelwright shop,  then it became a sawmill.  By 1905 it was in operation as a gristmill.

 
 E.B. Mabry bought adjacent tracts of land in order to get more water power to run the mill.  Here is one of the troughs he built to move the water to the mill.
 

Timber was moved to the mill using a log cart shown below.  These carts were pulled by oxen or horses, which was much easier than dragging the logs to the mill.
 

 
 The finished lumber was dried in the sun on drying racks before being used in construction.
 

This bark mill was used to grind the bark from oak and hemlock trees in order to tan hides.  A horse would be hitched to the sweep and walk around while the spindles in the center would crush the bark.  The crushed bark would be mixed with water to make the "bark liquor" which would be used to tan the hides.

 
A similar machine, called a sweep, was built to make sorghum molasses.  Sorghum was used when supplies of corn syrup and sugar were interrupted during the Civil War.  A horse or ox would be hitched to the sweep and walk around while corn stalks were fed into the two grinding stones in the center.  The juice would be passed through a strainer and then cooked for several hours in an evaporator until it thickened.  Ten gallons of juice were needed to make 1 gallon of molasses. 

This old checkerboard was painted on two pieces of attached lumber.  The checkers are thin pieces of sticks sawed about a 1/4 inch thick.  The chairs were made without nails, using wooden pegs to hold the chairs together. 

We saw a demonstration by a National Park ranger of these types of chairs being made.
 

Many settlers and early residents of this region brought with them the knowledge and custom of making whiskey.  Although tax laws and for a time, prohibition, made this practice illegal, moonshiners have always existed in the mountains and other areas of the south.  It was expensive and labor intensive to store and transport corn to market.  So the mountain people found an easier way to make money - convert the corn to moonshine first and then transport the moonshine.  This was a quick way for a mountain farmer to get cash. 

 

If you are ever in southwestern Virginia, Mabry Mill is a "must-see" if you enjoy learning about the history as settlers moved westward.