Mill Race

Exit78 Photo of the Day #116

Mill race at Cable Mill in Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, May 5, 2009 (Pentax K10D)

In May, 2009, we headed east for a change for our camping adventures.  The first major park we visited was Great Smokey Mountain National Park, which straddles the Appalachians of both Tennessee and North Carolina. Cades Cove is a very popular parts of the park.

John P. Cable Mill (Smokies Adventure)

It was not uncommon for entire villages and towns to be built around grist mills in the 1800s.  Because of their ability to grind grains into flour or meal at a faster rate than famers could do it themselves, grist mills were vital to local economies.  As a result, the town mill often became a social gathering place as well, fostering friendships, business relationships, and sometimes even young courtships.

John P. Cable built his grist mill in Cades Cover in the early 1870s.  He was a descendent of Peter Cable, a Pennsylvania Dutch farmer who had arrived in the area in the 1820s and designed an elaborate system to drain the swampy lands located in the western part of the cove.

John Cable was the only person in Cades Cove to use an overshot water wheel, a gravity wheel which harnesses the force of gravity acting vertically on the water as it travels from the top to the bottom of the wheel.  Cable Mill’s power was supplied by Mill Creek, although a connecting channel was dug to Forge Creek so the mill could tap both streams when water levels were low.

Cable Mill took double advantage of its waterwheel by using it to power saw mills as well.  This revolutionized the way homes were built in the cove, as people switched from using logs to lumber and frame construction.  The Gregg Cable house still stands as an example of a frame built house in Cades Cove.

Series notes:

• The photos in this series are (usually) randomly selected from a batch of photos specifically “curated” for Exit78 Photo of the Day.
• Each photo in this series is an “original work” – a copyright term – of Michael Goad.