It has been a very wet spring and the Missouri and
Mississippi rivers, both of which are close to our current residence, have been
over flowing their banks. Still, John
and I have managed to find some very sunny dry days to take some road
trips.
I first would like to mention New Town, a town we were
interested in seeing because of The Bridge, a not-for-profit coffee shop
located in that town. Walking through
the city park we came upon some very large animal statues. We had been told that they were moved to the
park from Noah’s Restaurant- an establishment which met its demise many years
ago. We had some good memories of that
dining establishment so I was happy to see the animals again.
A couple of weeks later our next adventure was to Dillard
Mill State Historic Site- it is located fifty miles due west of
Farmington. We combined that trip with a
visit to relatives in Farmington.
The mill is located on the Huzzah
Creek, and is a very picturesque site with water cascading down a rock dam. The village of Dillard grew around the mill,
which now is located in the Mark Twain Forest.
The first mill built in 1850 burned and was rebuilt
in another location close by in 1881.
That one also burned in 1895, and after the turn of the century was
rebuilt. It was a water powered grist
mill used to grind corn and wheat, and operated until 1965. We spent most of our day there, taking a tour
of the mill, as well as walking around the town of Dillard’s cemetery. There we found names of people who first
settled the area, including proprietors of the mill- one of which was Marie Mischke,
born in Poland in 1872. She ran the mill
from 1907 until 1917, after which she sold it to her brother. By the
way, the Dillard family name can also be found in the cemetery. Joseph
Dillard Cottrell was the owner of the mill in 1881. There is lots of fascinating history in this
state park!
