HARMAN - A chance to buy a piece of West Virginia history will be available on Saturday, when what is believed to be the state's longest-running grist mill goes on the auction block in this Randolph County community.
In operation since 1877, the Old Mill at Harman processed corn, wheat, rye and buckwheat for farmers in the Dry Fork Valley, Canaan Valley and the surrounding high country. It later grew to include a wood planing mill.
In more recent years, served as a museum and craft store.
"It's the only mill in West Virginia that I know of that's been in continuous operation, except for repairs, since its inception," said Lester Lind, who has served as the Old Mill's miller for the past 20 years.
Lind's father-in-law, Dr. Samuel Bucher, bought the mill and adjacent property in the late 1940s. Here, he operated the Mountain Clinic until retiring in the early 1990s. He now lives in an extended-care facility.
"He was the only doctor within 25 miles in some directions and within 50 miles in others," said Bucher's daughter, and Lind's wife, Mary Beth Lind.
Dr. Bucher's wife, Margaret, opened the Old Mill for summer and fall tours in 1963, and sold locally made crafts and demonstrated spinning and weaving in the historic building. The Old Mill closed as a roadside tourist attraction and craft outlet in 2005.
"What Mom started here was a forerunner to Tamarack and Mountain Made," said Mary Beth Lind. "She promoted local craft-makers and sold their work. For my sister and me, helping out in the store and museum was our summer job."
A pair of treadle-powered looms, one from the Arthurdale New Deal cooperative in Preston County, and another with the date "March 27, 1839" carved on its frame that had been found in pieces at an area farm, can be found in a second-floor craft demonstration room. Nearby is a warping wheel that fed thread into the looms under a desired amount of tension.
Hand-hewn post and beam construction was used to build the mill, using primarily chestnut timbers and planking. Instead of a water wheel, the mill is powered by a pair of 27-inch diameter water turbines, set in seven-foot-deep penstocks in the millrace beneath the mill's floor. Water turbines were used at the Harman mill because there is not enough drop in the river to make use of a water wheel, and because turbines are slower to freeze and become inoperable than water wheels.
HARMAN - A chance to buy a piece of West Virginia history will be available on Saturday, when what is believed to be the state's longest-running grist mill goes on the auction block in this Randolph County community.
In operation since 1877, the Old Mill at Harman processed corn, wheat, rye and buckwheat for farmers in the Dry Fork Valley, Canaan Valley and the surrounding high country. It later grew to include a wood planing mill.
In more recent years, served as a museum and craft store.
"It's the only mill in West Virginia that I know of that's been in continuous operation, except for repairs, since its inception," said Lester Lind, who has served as the Old Mill's miller for the past 20 years.
Lind's father-in-law, Dr. Samuel Bucher, bought the mill and adjacent property in the late 1940s. Here, he operated the Mountain Clinic until retiring in the early 1990s. He now lives in an extended-care facility.
"He was the only doctor within 25 miles in some directions and within 50 miles in others," said Bucher's daughter, and Lind's wife, Mary Beth Lind.
Dr. Bucher's wife, Margaret, opened the Old Mill for summer and fall tours in 1963, and sold locally made crafts and demonstrated spinning and weaving in the historic building. The Old Mill closed as a roadside tourist attraction and craft outlet in 2005.
"What Mom started here was a forerunner to Tamarack and Mountain Made," said Mary Beth Lind. "She promoted local craft-makers and sold their work. For my sister and me, helping out in the store and museum was our summer job."
A pair of treadle-powered looms, one from the Arthurdale New Deal cooperative in Preston County, and another with the date "March 27, 1839" carved on its frame that had been found in pieces at an area farm, can be found in a second-floor craft demonstration room. Nearby is a warping wheel that fed thread into the looms under a desired amount of tension.
Hand-hewn post and beam construction was used to build the mill, using primarily chestnut timbers and planking. Instead of a water wheel, the mill is powered by a pair of 27-inch diameter water turbines, set in seven-foot-deep penstocks in the millrace beneath the mill's floor. Water turbines were used at the Harman mill because there is not enough drop in the river to make use of a water wheel, and because turbines are slower to freeze and become inoperable than water wheels.
The old turbines make about 120 revolutions per minute and develop about 7 horsepower - more than enough to power the 1,250-pound millstones that rotate atop equally hefty stationary stones. The millstone used for processing buckwheat was imported from France.
"Eight years ago, the water turbines were rebuilt," Lind said, making them ready for another 100 years of service.
About a quarter mile upstream from the mill, a low-water dam in the Dry Fork diverts water through a sluice gate into a mill pond/millrace that lies just below W.Va. 32, the highway leading from Harman to Canaan Valley.
In addition to travelers wanting to see an operating gristmill in operation, the Old Mill has continued to custom-grind small batches of corn and grain. "We have people come here from the other side of Elkins to beyond Seneca Rocks to have their grain ground," Lind said.
The mill is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. According to its nomination form, it was included primarily because it "is a living, operational ensemble whose principal features include water turbines, stone buhrs (grindstones), shellers, seed cleaners, and supporting apparatus, such as the mill pond, millrace and tailrace. Another significant feature of the mill is its timber frame construction, exhibiting joining techniques and finish details no longer used in building."
"Not much is known about the people who built the mill," said Lind. On the National Register of Historic Places nomination, the name of the builder is listed as "unknown."
A new owner, Lind said, could use the mill's water powered turbines to generate electricity when not grinding grain - possibly in enough quantity to plug into the grid and sell.
In addition to the mill, Bucher's 6,000-square-foot clinic-residence building, recently operated as a lodge, will be auctioned, along with an adjacent three-bedroom, 1,225-square foot cabin fronting the Dry Fork River and a 1.07-acre parcel of unimproved land. Together, the four tracts to be sold amount to 7.3 acres.
The sale, scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, is being handled by Mountaineer Auctions of Clendenin. For details about the mill and other properties, visit www.mountaineerauctions.com.
Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelham...@wvgazette.com
or 304-348-5169.
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