Good write-up on Parish Pond mill & bridge.

[Artfuldodger]

I figured it had always been just a grist mill. I think a log of mills used to do more than one task, usually lumber, cotton, and/or a grist mill.

George L. Smith State Park

The peaceful natural beauty of George L. Smith State Park and the serene, cypress filled water of the mill pond offer you a tranquil escape where a small town, down

www.charltoncountyherald.com

 

[JustUs4All]

When I was a kid the local swimming hole was Shields Pond. It was a little over a mile from the home I live in now. It was a mill pond but the milling had all ended by the time I can remember except for the grist mill for corn. Dad tells me that in addition there was a lumber mill and even a cabinet maker's shop there when he was a young man. He was born near there in 1912.

 

[Artfuldodger]

When I was a kid the local swimming hole was Shields Pond. It was a little over a mile from the home I live in now. It was a mill pond but the milling had all ended by the time I can remember except for the grist mill for corn. Dad tells me that in addition there was a lumber mill and even a cabinet maker's shop there when he was a young man. He was born near there in 1912.

Where was Shields Pond?

 

[Artfuldodger]

This is interesting;
The turbine used wooden bearings made from a South American wood, Lignum vitae, considered the hardest and densest wood in the world. Because of the concentration of the oils in the wood, the bearings were self-lubricating even underwater.
Lignum Vitae bearings outlast competitive bearings six to one, lasting more than 60 years without the need for costly repetitive service and replacement.

 

[JustUs4All]

Shields Pond was on Shields Pond Rd which runs north and south between Howard Rd & County Line Rd near the Columbia County Line just south of Wrightsboro Rd/White Oak Rd.

 

[JustUs4All]

Lignum vitae is the wood they made bowling balls out of back when they made them out of wood.

 

[Artfuldodger]

BriarPatch99 sent me down the rabbit hole, lol

Where To Buy Wood Bearings

Wood bearings have been used since wheels were invented and theyre still used today in equipment ranging from combines to water turbines and even nuclear submarines, says Starkey Steuernagle, gener...

www.farmshow.com

 

[Artfuldodger]

Started as "The Neveroil Bearing Company, eventually Woodex. They make bearings out of Rock Maple.

Wooden Bearings? Come On! | Woodex

 

[Artfuldodger]

Shields Pond was on Shields Pond Rd which runs north and south between Howard Rd & County Line Rd near the Columbia County Line just south of Wrightsboro Rd/White Oak Rd.

I see that on Kiokee Creek. I can't find any history on it.

 

[JustUs4All]

I don't have the origins of it but the mill was still grinding corn in the 40s early 50s, the cabinet shop moved to Thomson before WWII and converted to electric power. The current owner has the dynamo from the dam that folks took their batteries to in the brief time that lighting was done by battery power between kerosene and REA.

I believe this dam is in the little book of the history of dams on Kiokee but the author missed some including a dam put up by the Willinghams back in the 1800s at the juncture of Kiokee & Black Branch just below my place.

 

[trad bow]

I worked in hydroelectric plants for Ga Power a few years and the under water turbines use wood bearings. Those bearings seldom if ever were replaced. I know of only two and those were in the North Hydro group of plants. I worked in the central hydro group