pantheraba
More biners!!!
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Here is some history. Periodically, the Georgia Safe Dams folks contact us to get permission to check the dams at our farm. They interact with the Federal agency that monitors 92,000 dams in the USA that could potentially cause harm if they failed. Their surveyors take measurements and assessments to evaluate each dam for safety. I noticed on the Federal Inventory of Dams that our pond is "Boyette Gin Pond". When the State of GA contacted me during the pandemic to check the dam, I said, "sure." I asked the girl there why they had it listed as a "Gin Pond". She followed up a few months later and sent me the dam inventory card from the 1980's when it was all done by hand. See the card below...it is what got me started on a quest that led me to discover an old mill site at the farm. So far, I have recovered 2 big mortise and tenon timbers that were part of the mill, a BIG cut nail and we now understand that the walls in the pond that made the bridge we always walked across...those walls were part of the mill race. Once we drained to pond off, Alex was down in the mud exploring and probed the mud...and discovered there was a concrete bottom between the walls. One of the walls had _889 etched into the concrete along with someone's initials. Mr. W.G. Bostick bought the farm in 1884...either the mill was already built by then (I think it was) or he did some work on the mill race walls and they etched the date in the wall.
Old farm deeds reference "Bostick Mill Creek" which is where the mill walls are...someone built the pre-Civil War dam at a creek and created a "Gin Pond" to power the mill. I have one of the mill stones (about 36 inch diameter) that was found at Grandaddy's shop. From old 1908 maps it looks like the pond was about 6 acres. When G'daddy built his ponds in the 1950's, he built up the road below the Gin Pond about 8 feet and that became the dam. It backed up enough water to make a 20 acre pond that included the original Gin Pond. Before building up the road to make a dam, he cut all the timber along the creek...those are the stumps I posted pictures of. I found old timber leases where he had two different timber outfits log the areas to build his ponds. He actually made a South Pond (which I inherited) and a North Pond which is to the north of the road dam. He built a BIG dam to contain the North Pond. It is about 11 acres size.
The 1956 aerial map shows North and South ponds shortly after Grandaddy completed them.
The picture with the blue lines shows the full property I inherited...about 90 acres. At the right upper area is the South Pond...the blue property line runs along the road, east to west. You can see the original dam south of the road..we call that small one the "Road Pond".
View attachment mill site finds via metal det (3).mp4
Old farm deeds reference "Bostick Mill Creek" which is where the mill walls are...someone built the pre-Civil War dam at a creek and created a "Gin Pond" to power the mill. I have one of the mill stones (about 36 inch diameter) that was found at Grandaddy's shop. From old 1908 maps it looks like the pond was about 6 acres. When G'daddy built his ponds in the 1950's, he built up the road below the Gin Pond about 8 feet and that became the dam. It backed up enough water to make a 20 acre pond that included the original Gin Pond. Before building up the road to make a dam, he cut all the timber along the creek...those are the stumps I posted pictures of. I found old timber leases where he had two different timber outfits log the areas to build his ponds. He actually made a South Pond (which I inherited) and a North Pond which is to the north of the road dam. He built a BIG dam to contain the North Pond. It is about 11 acres size.
The 1956 aerial map shows North and South ponds shortly after Grandaddy completed them.
The picture with the blue lines shows the full property I inherited...about 90 acres. At the right upper area is the South Pond...the blue property line runs along the road, east to west. You can see the original dam south of the road..we call that small one the "Road Pond".
View attachment mill site finds via metal det (3).mp4
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