Myrick's Mill, Fitzpatrick Georgia

Date added: August 13, 2023 Categories: Georgia Mill

View of north and west facades of Myrick's Mill (1975)

Myrick's Mill in Twiggs County, Georgia, is one of the few remaining antebellum mills in largely an unaltered condition. It was a social hub of a large cotton plantation and later of the rural community. It was one of only three mills in this district of Twiggs County in 1840 and served the farmers of the neighboring counties of Jones and Wilkinson as well. The mill is a living reminder of the earliest "manufacturing" edifice in a county that was not to shed its rural outlook for another century, and was a means for turning much farm produce to marketable or edible usage.

Myrick's Mill was built sometime c.1840 on or about Land Lot 74 in the 27^th District of Twiggs County. Land Lot 74 was drawn by James McCartney of Johnson's Battalion in Jackson County on July 5, 1808. At the time of the initial survey in 1806 this tract of land was a virtual swamp.

In the 1836 Tax Digest of Twiggs County, Stith Parham Myrick is shown as owning 3535 acres in the 27^th District, including the site of the mill. Myrick, a wealthy planter who also owned land in Baldwin County, had 76 slaves and the aggregate value of his Twiggs property amounted to $120,148. The date when Myrick acquired this property is unknown, as is the question of whether Myrick had the mill built or used a mill already on the site. Popular legend had it that this mill on Big Sandy Creek was visited by the Marquis de Lafayette in the spring of 1825. (It is said that he later sent the miller a bolt of silk from France: to improve the: quality of his meal.) However, on his trip through Georgia, Lafayette passed directly from Milledgeville to Clinton to Macon, never entering Twiggs County. The legend indicates that the mill had been established this early but there is no firm substantiation of this. From various construction techniques used and a genealogical account of the Myrick family, it would be safe to assume that the mill was in use by at least 1840. As all Twiggs county records prior to 1901 were destroyed by fire, no firmer date can be established.

S. P. Myrick was born on March 7, 1815. He married Elizabeth Peeple in 1834 and Elizabeth Dowdell in 1844. Myrick's father had married Martha Parham, twin sister of Sarah Parham who was the mother of noted Georgian Benjamin H. Hill. Myrick lived early on his Oconee River plantation and in 1835 he became executor of the estate of his grandfather. On August 26, 1844, Governor Crawford appointed Myrick a Brigadier General in the Georgia militia. During the Civil War, Myrick raised and personally equipped the "Myrick Volunteers." His son James D. Myrick made his first home at Myrick's Mill and at least one of his children was born here.

The war hit the Myrick estate with devastation. On January 17, 1874, assignees for Myrick pleaded bankruptcy, deeding the 3,200-acre tract known as Myrick's Mill Plantation to Samuel A. Jewell. On January 17, 1878, Daniel and Mary Jewell sold this same tract to Woodward, Baldwin and Company of New York for $1,200. Shelton Napier later purchased the land from the New York Company and sold the land to C. C. Humphries for $30,000. The land has remained in the Humphries family since that time. Until Humphries sold approximately 200 acres to various parties, Myrick's Mill Plantation had been handed down intact as a 3,200-acre unit from General Myrick through the Humphries. The Humphries own 2950 acres of the original tract and W. C. Humphries, Jr., Lassie H. Gates and Hazel H. Farrow each have a 1/3 ownership of the land.

The Bureau of Census Manufacturing Statistics for 1880 reveal that James Myrick operated Myrick's Mill on Big Sandy Creek. He had invested $1,000 capital in the sawmill here, the mill also served as a flour and grist mill. Five laborers were employed in the saw mill working 12 hours a day from May to November and 10 hours a day from November to May. The ordinary saw mill laborer at Myrick's Mill was paid 60 a day, the skilled mechanic drawing $1.50. The sawmill was in operation only six months of the year. A single mule saw was used at the mill the annual value of the logs was $550, the value of mill supplied $150. The total value of all mill products was $1250 and 125,000 feet of lumber were produced annually. Myrick used logs from his plantation here and the mill was a water-powered turbine operation. The height of Big Sandy's falls were six feet and the mill wheels were four feet in breadth, making 150 r.p.m. and generating a force of 20 h.p.

A flour and grist mill was also operated at Myrick's Mill. Myrick, in 1880, invested $3,000 in capital in the mill and had two hands working full-time at the mill, 12 hours a day from May to November, and 10 a day from November to May. Again, the pay for a skilled mechanic was $1.50 a day and 60 cents for unskilled laborers. Myrick paid out $285 in wages for the year with the grist mill in full-time operation six months a year and halftime the remainder of the year. The mill operated on three stones and had a maximum capability of grinding 180 bushels per day. The mill did custom work only and was without an elevator. The height of the fall was listed as seven feet, the 4-foot-wide turbine wheel grinding the mill at 200 r.p.m. with a force of 30 h.p. During the year 1878-80, Myrick's Mill ground 1537 bushels of wheat, 8056 bushels of other grains. The mill turned out 306 barrels of wheat flour and 435,136 pounds of corn meal. The total value of all mill materials was $8,280 and the total value of all products was $10,000.

The mill was in operation until the 1950s and was often times used as a community center where dances and other functions were held. With the rise of the Kaolin industry elsewhere in Twiggs and neighboring counties, this corner in the northeast portion of the county rapidly lost population. The mill was soon abandoned although it enjoyed occasional use during the 1960s. In a fair, largely unaltered condition, Myrick's Mill is one of the few remaining mills in Georgia dating from antebellum times.

Next to Myrick's Mill are the W. C. Humphreys Grocery and Market and an old wooden bridge across Big Sandy Creek.

The store, built c.1930, is located approximately 20 yards southeast of the mill and facing it. Iron gates are in the windows, the roof is shingled and a double screen door opens into the store. In front of the store is an old orange gasoline tank with a small c.1930 gasoline pump beside it. The store was operated in conjunction with the mill, the Humphreys selling groceries and supplies to farmers bringing corn or timber to the mill.

Located east of Myrick's Mill across Big Sandy is an old wooden plank bridge constructed around the turn of the century. The bridge, with iron trestle side railings, is only about twelve feet wide, and is in a very poor condition with some of the planks missing and all the wood damp and mouldy and rapidly deteriorating.

The county highway running by Myrick's Mill is currently being widened and a new bridge has been constructed approximately 20 yards from the old bridge and nearer to the mill. The highway is passing very close to the mill and at present the grounds fronting the mill are being used to dump gravel and dirt and to park the road equipment.

Building Description

Myrick's Mill has been a significant part of a plantation unit since sometime before the Civil War. The name derived from General Stith Parham Myrick whose 3200-acre Twiggs County plantation was known as Myrick's Mill Plantation. The mill is a 2-1/2-story raised weatherboarded structure situated along Big Sandy Creek in northeastern Twiggs County.

The mill is of a simple square design with 4 bays on each of the unpainted weatherboarded facades. Hand-planed pine shutters cover two of the windows. The roof is of wooden shingles overlaid at a later date with tin. A one-story addition (apparently of the same date as the remainder of the mill) is located on the southeast and was the main entrance to the mill. This one-story entrance room has a tiled roof. Both the main 2-1/2 story structure and the one-story southeast projection are hip-roofed.

The mill originally rested on raised stilts. The stilts remain, however, but they have since been implanted in concrete. The original yellow pine beams which run the width of the building remain in place, being over 30 feet long. Although there are square and later round nails in the mill, much of the original mill structure was notched and pegged into place. A seven-foot-high unpainted wood door opens from the southeast entrance room. The early iron hinges and a wooden bolt are still present. A square plain unglazed window is to either side of this entrance door. The original wood shutters remain in one of these two windows. The entrance room of the mill measures approximately 34 x 25 feet and the mill as a whole measures roughly 34 x 60 feet.

There are four distinct rooms within the mill. The first, the southeast entrance room has the early pine flooring and several pieces of mill furniture, troughs, etc. A door opens from this into the larger mill room on the first floor. A raised platform is located in this room along with portions of mill machinery chairs, etc. A straight staircase, apparently not original, leads from this room to the large pine-floored room encompassing all of the second floor. The staircase opens on the second-floor landing to a wooden gate with hinges from which entrance is gained to the room. A similar room on the third floor is reached by a staircase. Here, the ceiling is lower, slanting sharply down on the northern and western sides.

The ceilings within the mill are approximately 15 feet high. On the interior of the structure beams are exposed. The present condition of the mill is generally fair. The yellow pine flooring remains sturdy, concrete has bolstered the foundations, but the roof is leaning and has been perforated with holes. A concrete-sided mill race channels water into the area where once the millwheel stood.