Mingus Mill

Visited the Mingus Mill the other day. It seems that the Mingus family moved to the Oconaluftee Valley in the 1790s and built an earlier mill powered by an overshot waterwheel. As the community grew, the old mill wore out and Dr. Mingus contracted with Sion T. Early to build the present structure. Early was a millwright from Virginia and agreed to do the job in three months for $600. His initials, STE, are cut in the front gable just under the eaves. The mill remained in the Mingus family until acquired by the Great Smoky National Park in the 1930s.

During the summer season, the Park Service actually runs the mill and sells whole wheat flour and corn meal. We got a bag of each and will try their bread recipe and make some corn bread and/or hoe cakes.

 

Not much in the way of insulation!

Love how they're supporting the building.

This was the walkway to the mill.

Stopped into the Franklin Gem and Mineral Museum before the dance on Friday night. It is in the old Macon County Jail, built in 1850 and in use until 1972. They still have several cells upstairs. Tiny little museum with big museum content. So glad we stopped in.

Thinking of going to Cherokee tomorrow to visit the Cherokee Indian Museum and go to the outdoor drama, Unto These Hills. Haven't seen this in years and have been told that the script has been updated to be more accurate to the plight of the Cherokee. Looking forward to that and still enjoying the pleasant weather.

 

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Mingus Mill

Visited the Mingus Mill the other day. It seems that the Mingus family moved to the Oconaluftee Valley in the 1790s and built an earlier mill powered by an overshot waterwheel. As the community grew, the old mill wore out and Dr. Mingus contracted with Sion T. Early to build the present structure. Early was a millwright from Virginia and agreed to do the job in three months for $600. His initials, STE, are cut in the front gable just under the eaves. The mill remained in the Mingus family until acquired by the Great Smoky National Park in the 1930s.

During the summer season, the Park Service actually runs the mill and sells whole wheat flour and corn meal. We got a bag of each and will try their bread recipe and make some corn bread and/or hoe cakes.

 

Not much in the way of insulation!

Love how they're supporting the building.

This was the walkway to the mill.

Stopped into the Franklin Gem and Mineral Museum before the dance on Friday night. It is in the old Macon County Jail, built in 1850 and in use until 1972. They still have several cells upstairs. Tiny little museum with big museum content. So glad we stopped in.

Thinking of going to Cherokee tomorrow to visit the Cherokee Indian Museum and go to the outdoor drama, Unto These Hills. Haven't seen this in years and have been told that the script has been updated to be more accurate to the plight of the Cherokee. Looking forward to that and still enjoying the pleasant weather.

 

Posted with Blogsy

A Week Later......

Didn't post for the next few days cause we were slugs - hung around the camper and campground. Of course we danced Tuesday night at the campground. Since we were going to be in Asheville on Thursday to dance, we scheduled a comedy tour of Asheville in the afternoon. What fun! You could bring beer and/or wine on the bus just no hard stuff. There were two ladies that worked in tandem, one on the bus and one that come on at select areas. We laughed so hard.

Q

The next day we rode the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad out of Brysin City North Carolina. We were to be on the maiden trip of their historic #1702 steam engine. This engine was built in 1942 and is one of he world's largest engine class and one of two remaining in the US. As you can probably tell, we got there and were advised that the steam engine wasn't working and we would be pulled by the Diesel engine. It was a disappoint,net for us and a major oops for the railroad. They had tons of reporters there for the official launch and folks were parked all along the route to the Nantahala Gorge to get photos of the steam engine. We had a great day regardless of the engine switch.

This is the car we rode in:

 

This is the only remaining civil was home left in the valley. A real fixer upper!

This guy was the story teller on the train and quite a colorful fellow.

As we've been traveling around and through Waynesville, we kept passing a sign for the Folkmoot Center. Folkmoot is literally defined as "a meeting of the people" and they present fun, educational programs based on cultural exchanges that are designed to build global relationships, foster cultural understanding and develop community prosperity. Each year, the non-profit organization Folkmoot USA hosts eight to ten international folk dance and music groups from countries around the globe. We went to the Parade of Nations on Saturday morning. It was amazing. If you ever have a chance to attend a Folkmoot experience, please go. The costumes and the music were so beautiful and colorful.

The participants were from the Cherokee Nation, the U.S., the Dominican Republic, France, Finland, Japan, Mexico represented by dancers from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, Peru, Poland, and Uganda. What a treat!

 

Check out the instrument this musician from the France delegation was playing. I was intrigued by it.

 

 

 

 

Saturday evening found us square dancing again. It was time for another slugfest day so Sunday was just that. Oh, it was also the final day of the Tour de France bike race. Ever since Lance Armstrong won his first Tour, we've been hooked on the race. Yes I know all the stuff surrounding him and doping but we still love the race. So along with all our other activities, we watched the race every day for the last two and a half weeks.

Our weather has been funny in the we are in a rain forest and being summer, we usually have rain every late afternoon. It works out pretty well for us because it allows us to sightsee during the day and get home just before the rain. Can't complain!

So that's all for now. Y'all have a great evening.

 

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