Down By The Old Mill Stream

Sometimes I enjoy things that are spontaneous, like going on a trip without much forethought or planning. I took such was a trip recently to the states of Virginia and West Virginia to photograph a couple of grist mills. I had seen photographs of these two particular mills, and I knew that I had to drive up there and try my luck at capturing these amazingly beautiful structures. I decided to make the trip right in the midst of fall color season, but I feared that I might be too early for peak color based on the fall color maps I had seen. My wife agreed to join me on my mill tour, although she only has a passing interest in mills or photography for that matter. I think she considered it a good chance to just get away for a few days and to see a part of the country that we don’t normally get to see. This was Appalachia we were heading to, and it soon became apparent that some of the most scenic parts of this country are also among the most depressed. Even in this time of relative prosperity, we saw towns and villages that seem to really be struggling, and have been for a long time.

Our first stop was at Mabry Mill in Floyd County, Virginia. The mill is located right on the Blue Ridge Parkway at mile marker 176. We got there a bit late just as the sun was going down, but I did want to see it’s orientation to determine if it would make a better morning or afternoon shot. As it turned out, it definitely favored the afternoon, but I was just a bit late. Part of the mill was in bright sunlight and part was already in shade. The dynamic range was too great to hope to get good tonality across the entire structure. Although it was late, I decided to try getting a few shots anyway. I played around with HDR (high dynamic range) techniques to try to equal out the shadows and highlights, but that made things only marginally better.

Mabry Mill on the Blue Ridge Parkway

I realized that my best bet was to wait until the sun completely set, placing the mill in total shadow. I would have to adjust my exposure settings somewhat, but since the camera was on a tripod I didn’t have to worry much about the shutter speed. I could maintain my small aperture and thus, depth of field. My shutter speed slowed way down, but that provided a benefit by blurring the water wheel to give a sense of motion. I was lucky that the mill was working and the wheel was still turning. I found out that the sluice had just recently been rebuilt. The old one had rotted out a while ago, and the water had to be channeled through to an iron pipe in order to keep the mill in operation. For photographic considerations, having an operating waterwheel is almost essential. Another visitor told me that the sluice had just been put back in operation this summer, so my timing was uncharacteristically good. With the sun setting, my light was fading fast and I had to decide quick, if I wanted to return the next morning and try again.

 

West facade of Mabry Mill

The Mabry Mill is located about forty minutes from the town of Hillsville, the nearest town of any size. We decided to spend the night there and if the weather held, I planned to drive back to the Mabry very early the following morning. Unlike the evening before, when I arrived I was the only person on the scene. Gotta love it. I knew my luck would not last long however. The fact that I was there on a weekend during “almost peak” fall color season, guaranteed that tourists would soon be arriving in droves. I was not wrong. Now, I have nothing against tourists. One or two help to add interest and scale to a photograph. It’s when the number of people climb into the dozens, that I begin to have a problem. At a certain point, too many people in a photo creates a distraction and all you see are the people. Plus, when you’re shooting with very slow shutter speeds like I am, you run the risk of blurring the people since they are usually moving around. I know there are software programs that eliminate such distractions, but I don’t like using them.

 

Mabry Mill is a favorite of tourists driving the Blue Ridge Parkway

 

The water wheel powers the grist mill.

So, I had to work fast. I concentrated of getting photos of the mill itself from several vantage points and then planned to move to other parts of the site. Near the mill is Matthews Cabin, an excellent example of mountain architecture and workmanship. A working blacksmith shop, a whiskey still and a sorghum mill demonstrate to visitors and school children what it was like to live in this part of the country in the late 1800’s. The mill was built by Edwin Boston Mabry in 1903 and was in operation by 1908. Considered a “slow mill” due to the lack of sufficient water power, it eventually developed a reputation for producing some of the finest tasting corn meal in the area. Apparently, a fast mill runs the risk of grinding too fast and scorching the grain.

After a couple of hours, I began to realize that I reached to point where the number of visitors had reached critical mass. It was time to call it a day. I did take a few minutes to go inside the mill and I even took a few shots of the pulleys, belts and internal workings that transform the movement of the wheel into a means of grinding grain.

 

Mabry Mill on the Blue Ridge Parkway – late afternoon

 

The recently rebuilt sluice once again channels water to the water wheel to power the mill

In a few days, I will post some photos from the second mill we visited, the Glade Creek Grist Mill near Clifftop, West Virginia.

 

Matthews Cabin is an excellent example of mountain architecture, circa 1900