An Early Mill Photograph

This undated photograph of the mill, as seen from the west, shows a saw mill in association with the gristmill. A search through deeds in the Monroe County Courthouse indicates that a saw mill was present by 1860 (Deed Book T, pp. 674-5) and in 1894 (Deed Book 31, pp. 484-5) but it is not mentioned afterward. The memory of some residents of Greenville goes back to the 1930's and they do not remember a saw mill on the site. A 3½ foot diameter sycamore tree now grows just downstream of the mill, and the dam does not look like the present concrete structure which was built about 1906. So, we can conclude that the photo dates from the late nineteenth century. The horizontal structure in the foreground could be a pipe or 'penstock' supplying water to drive the saw mill, and if so would have carried water from the right side of the dam to the saw mill on the left. A pile of logs is seen to the left side of the picture just beneath the branches of the tree.