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Identified as a bed stone, this stone is set in place and does not move. The cap stone is then placed on top of the bed stone. The grain in funneled through a hopper into the center hole of the cap stone. As the cap stone moves the grain out from the center, the cuts of the stone are smaller and smaller. From corn or wheat that was placed into the center of the millstone, the grain is then deposited into a bag of ground cornmeal or flour.
Dave Fey, Director of Historical Parks in Fairfield County
Rock Mill has 6 storys. The 2 lowest storys are subterranean and are fitted against the cliff walls. The building has 4 storys above ground level.
This drawing is very interesting because you can imagine the waterwheel, the power house and all of the 6 storys.
From the front of the gorge. Here you can see the wooden flume that channels the race to the waterwheel.
This is the entry doors into the mill. Excellent drawings.
These cups that are attached to this belt is placed inside a wooden elevator. Using the power of the waterwheel, the grain is then elevated up or down through the elevators to process the wheat or corn before it is ground. The grain needs to be cleaned to get it prepared for the millstones.
Roof as of 2011.
This is the interior of the mill with a shuttered window. You can witness the white oak hand-hewn beams that support the structure. The use of white oak beams is the sole reason Rock Mill still remains today almost 200 years later. White oak is extremely dense and durable. It has unique cellular properties that makes it so strong.
One of the old beams had to be replace with poplar timbered in southeastern Ohio.
A piece of the deteriorated beam.
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