If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 699

 

 

 

 

 

John P. Cable Mill, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

 

Featured on this unused Carl W. M. Cline Co., Color-King Color Card, is a photograph of the John P. Cable Mill located in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Townsend, Tennessee.  The card has the number 81280 at the bottom center line on the reverse.  There is a blurb at the top left corner on the back:  “John P. Cable Mill—Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Located in the Cades Cove section this is the only Grist Mill left in the park using an overshot wheel.” 

 

The building is described as being typical of what remote Appalachian farmsteads were like more thaan 100-150 years ago, thus providing us with a glimpse into history.  The Cable Mill, situated on its original site, is just one of several historic buildings in the park.  Other buildings were brought from elsewhere and reconstructed on various other sites on the park grounds.  For instance, the blacksmith shop built in the 1950s, is representative of what a blacksmith shop would have been like in the 1870s or thereabouts. 

 

There is a dam on Mill Creek from which the water is funneled down a wooden flume and onto the top of the mill wheel.  There are several different types of water wheels.  The one used on the Cable Mill is called an overshot.  The water running over the wheel activates the mechanism to grind the corn using a mill stone.  The same wheel also powered a heavy reciprocating blade to cut logs making it possible for the miller to be able operate both a grist mill to grind flour and a sawmill to cut logs with one water wheel.   

 

 Some families had “tub” mills that could grind small amounts of grain; however, mills like the Cable mill were larger and stronger.  The miller would barter or charge a fee to grind the meal or saw logs.  A typical house in this area was a log cabin.  The sawmill could saw logs and save many back-breaking steps if the settler could provide the logs, trade or pay for cutting the lumber.   

 

Adjacent to the mill is the Gregg-Cable house, believed to have been constructed from some of the earliest timber cut on the Cable Mill.  It was built in 1879.  It is the first and only remaining all-frame house in Cades Cove. 

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikpedia.org/wiki/Gristmill

https://www.nps.gov/places/cable-mill-historic-area.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_wheel

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smoky_Mountains_National_Park