Grist Mill on Cane Creek
The Dellinger Grist Mill is the only known small, private, water-powered
mill, built to serve the community, which still survives in North Carolina.
It posses statewide significance in the areas of architecture and social
history as an intact example of a once commonplace grist mill which is now
exceedingly rare. The Dellinger Mill was entered into the National Register
of Historic Places on November 19, 1998.
The mill was in continuous operation for well over 100 years, grinding shelled
corn into cornmeal for the people of Hawk, Clarissa, Green Cove, the left
and right hand forks of Cane Creek and other surrounding communities. The
current buildings are about 98 years old. They include the mill building
itself with attached shed, which contains all the original equipment including
the mill wheel, millstones, pulleys, shafts and belts. The other building
still standing is the apple storage house, which is a unique, double walled
structure. The space between the two walls is filled with dry
sawdust for insulation. Both buildings are made of solid chestnut lumber
and covered with tin roofs.
Dellinger Mill is located on Cane Creek Road (SR 1211) four miles east of
Bakersville, North Carolina. Jack and Wayne Dellinger, owners of the old
homeplace and the mill, sons of Marvel Dellinger and great grandsons of
the original builder Reuben are restoring the mill to operational status
for demonstrations, tours and cornmeal.
Henry Dellinger built a grist and saw mill on Three Mile Creek in Avery
County, North Carolina. It was there that his son, Reuben first acquired
his skills as a miller. About 1846 Reuben married Mary Jane Coffery and
the couple settled on a small farm nearby. Milling provided a living for
the family, but a tragic accident at the mill took the life of Mary Jane
on April 11, 1859, when her dress became caught in the shaft of the mill.
According to a family historical, the accident caused Reuben to leave his
holding and relocate in Hawk.In 1866 and 1867, Reuben purchased three tracts
of land on Cane Creek, which became his home place and the location of his
new mill. He also purchased additional land from Thomas Pitman which adjoined
his property. We may never know if Reuben continued to operate the Pitman
Mill or built his own mill building, but he continued to operate a community
mill in that location. The Dellinger Mill was a small water powered community
mill that never became an entry in the sequential editions of the Brancons'
North Carolina Business Directory because if its size.
Situated along Cane Creek, four miles from Bakersville, Dellinger's Mill
has been in the Dellinger family for nearly 100 years and is the only small,
private community mill in the state of North Carolina. In the mill's early
days, locals depended on it for cornmeal. Reuben Dellinger assembled a home
tract of 110 acres on Cane Creek and built a simple grist mill in the late
19th century. When the original mill, built by Reuben Dellinger in 1867,
was lost in a spring freshet of May 1901 it destroyed the original mill.
In the second mill the millstone timber frame work was built to hold two
pairs of millstones. The second pair never installed in the mill was perhaps
designed to grind wheat flour. The millstones are on a waist high platform
in the typical mill fashion with a pair of steps to access the millstones,
and a bin in front of the platform on ground level.
Following the flood, Dellinger's son, Dave R. Philip Dellinger, rebuilt
a anew mill downstream to the site in 1901, still on family land. From 1903
until his death in 1936 David Dellinger ground corn into meal for his family,
friends, and neighbors. His "toll" for grinding corn was one bushel
for every ten ground for customers. While the Dellinger Cane Creek grist
mill remained a water powered for its entire operating life, electric lines
came to Cane Creek Valley in the late 1920's. When David died in February
of 1936, he left the mill to his only son Marvel Greenbury Dellinger. Like
his father and grandfather, "Marv" continued to grind corn into
meal upon request. saw milling was another important cash generating activity
and the saw mill was housed in a shed built across the west end of the grist
mill. An apple store house was built upstream from the mill using saw dust
for insulation from the saw mill. A mule powered cane mill once stood downstream
below the saw mill addition.
In turn, Dave's son, Marvel Greenberry Dellinger ran the mill until 1955.
When Marv died on December 21, 1955, the mill ceased operation. This new
mill building survived the disastrous flooding of 1998. By this time, Dave's
grandson, Jack, had chosen a career as a computer programmer, so the mill
lay idle for the first time in nearly a century. Having worked on the Apollo
space mission, Jack Dellinger retired in 1997 and moved with his wife, Leslie,
After checking the North Carolina SPOOM mill roster, SPOOM member Jack
Dellinger wanted to know what happened to his mill in Mitchell County, North
Carolina. On a subsequent visit to Cane's Creek, Jack was sad to see the
family heirloom in its decrepit state. He noticed that the mill components
were still there, included the mill wheel, pulley, shafts and belts. Even
the cornmeal scoop-with forefinger indentations made by Jack's father, grandfather
and great-grandfather-also remained. Jack decided to restore the mill. In
1967, Stephen,Wayne and Jack Dellinger undertook the first measures toward
the mill's stabilization and restoration. Over the years the log chestnut
dam across Cane Creek had washed out. Millwright Ted Hazen first inspected
the mill in March of 1997, and since then logs were cut on the Dellinger
land to rebuild the log dam across Cane Creek that feeds water down a quarter
mile long mill race. The new dam is almost in the same spot as the historical
dam of Dellinger's Mill. Dellinger's Limited Liability Corporation was established
to undertake the restoration project and the two Dellinger brothers are
officers of the company.
The mill's water wheel was manufactured by the Fitz Water Wheel Company
of Hanover, Pennsylvania. The water wheel bears the brass plate that identifies
its serial number as #13779, is believed to date to the 1870's and might
have been reused from the earlier 19th century grist mill. One of the first
tasks was to replace the metal on 27 buckets in the water wheel, and six
of the interior pieces. This required 2,254 bolts-discounting the ones he
dropped. Jack has come to appreciate the craftsmanship in the mill, like
the wooden locust pegs driven through chestnut beams that have survived
intact since 1901. Tin roofs shelter the mill building and its attached
sheds. Jack's cousin, Ray Dellinger, has become a restoration collaborator
and now, after two years and $50,000, the mill is nearly finished.
The entire grist mill machinery, including the granite 36 inch diameter
millstones, have survived in good condition. They were redressed by Ted
Hazen in July of 1999. Many relatives and local folks came by to view the
millstone dressing process because they had never seem the millstones apart,
let alone being dressed. It was Jack and his younger brothers job to dress
the millstones for their father. Times had changed when Dellinger's Mill
was an operating mill, the door was never locked. When the mill closed down
the door still remained unlocked. Over the years that them mill sat idle
someone made off with the wooden box of millstone dressing tools, the damsel,
the Fitz Water Wheel gate control hand wheel, but the original proof staff
and trammel still remain in the mill. Today the door now locked for the
mill's own protection and for the curious passers by. Only the chestnut
board sluice box which carried water from the earthen and stone mill race
and emptied it onto the water wheel had deteriorated over the years. After
the mill was closed in 1955, when Jack's father when home one day to the
family home across the road (where the mill's parking lot is today) and
never returned. Over time the sluice box eventually deteriorated, eventually
collapsed and rotted away. A local carpenter undertook the building of a
new sluice box to once again carry water to the top of the water wheel using
the old Fitz control gate mounted in the end of the water box.
The restoration should be completed in June of 2000. Jack Dellinger has
already ground a few pounds of corn meal for his friends. Because of the
Restoration work, Bob Vela chose Dellinger Mill as part of his "Restore
America" show which aired on March 26, 200 on the Home and Garden Television
Network. Local farmers plan to once again take corn to the mill for grinding.
The restoration has also inspired a Renaissance of sorts in nearby Bakersville,
where restoration of homes and public buildings, including the courthouse,
is now underway.
The plaque outside of the Mill is dedicated to the memory of the millers
of Dellinger's Mill, 1867 to 1955. Reuben from 1867 to 1895, Dave from 1874
to 1936, and Marve from 1902 until 1955. Dellinger's Mill will be open to
the public, but visitors might want to check first with the Dellingers for
hours of operation.
Grinding corn at Dellinger Mill: Every 3rd Saturday of month June-Sept.
Hours10:00am-5:00pm, perhaps into Oct., Hawk NC (near Bakersville on SR
Grinding corn at Dellinger Mill: Corn grinding and tours during January-May
when the weather permits, Hawk NC (near Bakersville on SR 1211)
Please check with the Dellingers first at either their Bakersville (704)
688-1009 phone number, or at their Florida residence (828) 688-1009. E-mail
Dellinger Grist Mill Web Site.
Sources for information and photos: personal interviews with Jack Dellinger
at the Cane Creek Mill; This Old House-"Restore North Carolina"
internet website for Bakersville, North Carolina; Scenic Attractions of
Mitchell County, North Carolina, andOld Mill News, Volume XXXVIII,
Number 2, Whole Number 111, Spring 2000, pages 23-24.
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