October 20 and 21.

In West Virginia, near Fayetteville, is the Glade Creek Grist Mill in Babcock State Park. According to the State Park website, “You’ve seen it pictured on calendars, mugs and coffee table books. It’s the Glade Creek Grist Mill — one of the most photographed images in the world.” The mill is actually a replica built in 1976 as a tribute to hundreds of mills in West Virginia. It is patterned after the Cooper’s Mill which was located nearby. It is really a patchwork of parts from several mills near by and is actually a working mill on certain days.

The following photos are other scenes from around the mill.

Nearby is the New River Gorge Bridge and part of the newest National Park – New River Gorge. The bridge is 3,030 feet long and 876 feet high. There is really only one overlook to view the bridge and you can also drive down into the gorge. The day I was there on October 19 and every third Saturday in October, it is “Bridge Day” and thousands of cars and spectators gather to watch BASE jumpers parachute off the bridge into the gorge. Unfortunately, I did not want to walk several miles, because there was no parking, to watch this event. I went by a round about route to the grist mill instead and took this photo the next morning.

The Mabry Mill is located at mile post 176 on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. This is the original grist mill that Ed Mabry built in 1908 where he and his wife Lizzy ground corn. Later additions included a saw mill with a circular saw, and a woodworking shop all powered with the waterwheel.

In the above photo I used a slow exposure to show the spinning water wheel.

The above photo shows the water flume system to supply the water to the waterwheel.

The next day I drove through Smoky Mountain National Park. With the first series of photos you can see why with the blue haze that they are called the Smoky Mountains. The fall foliage was pretty near peak conditions.

Mingus Mill is located at the south entrance on US 441 near Cherokee. It was built in 1886 and uses a water powered turbine (which is not visible) instead of a water wheel to power the corn grinding wheel. The mill is operational, but not the day that I was there.

These photos were taken when crossing the creek to the mill.

The next stop was in Vicksburg, Mississippi to see the Civil War Battleground. You can drive around in the battle field although it was very hard to get any perspective. There are lots of monuments to identify the locations of various regiments both Union and Confederate. It turned out to be a siege of 47 days before the Confederates surrendered. But it took about two years of various assaults from various directions which failed before Ulysses S. Grant was able to capture Vicksburg which resulted in complete control of the Mississippi River. The main problem was that the city itself is on a bluff above the river which was heavily fortified and only one frontal assault from the river was tried but failed. If you’re interested Wikipedia has a fairly long description. I read a whole book about it after I got home.

As part of the park there is a large museum and building dedicated to the USS Cairo Gunboat ironclad that was built along with 6 others in Cairo Illinois in 100 days in 1861-62. The slanting sides were effective in protecting the ship. However in 1862 during a battle it was sunk by two explosions in quick succession. If you care to read about it the, NPS description of the restoration gives all the details, and it is a miracle that it was recovered.

The last photo stop on the trip is at Caddo Lake State Park in Karnak, TX, just over the border from Louisiana. The park is 484 acres on Big Cypress Bayou swamp. Bald cypress trees grow in and along waterways and appear “bald” after they shed their leaves. Long gray Spanish moss cover the tree branches.

This marks the end of my epic 7 week trip in September and October 2024.