Glade Creek Grist Mill

The Glade Creek Grist Mill at Babcock State Park is a new mill that was completed in 1976. Fully operable, this mill was built as a re-creation of a previous one that once ground grain on Glade Creek long before Babcock became a state park. Known as Cooper’s Mill, it stood on the present location of the park’s administration building parking lot. Of special interest, the mill was created by combining parts and pieces from three mills which once dotted the state. The basic structure of the mill came from the Stoney Creek Grist Mill which dates back to 1890.

After an accidental fire destroyed the Spring Run Grist Mill near Petersburg, Grant County, only the overshot water wheel could be salvaged. Other parts for the mill came from the Onego Grist Mill near Seneca Rocks in Pendleton County. A living monument to the over 500 mills which thrived in West Virginia at the turn of the century, the Glade Creek Grist Mill provides freshly ground cornmeal, which park guests may purchase depending on availability and stream conditions. Visitors to the mill may journey back to a time when grinding grain by a rushing stream was a way of life, and the groaning mill wheel was music to the miller’s ear.

The mill still grinds corn meal, which can be purchased in the state park gift shop. If you are lucky enough, you might be visiting on a day when the miller is in, and you can watch him grind corn meal the old-fashioned way!

Where it is:

Glade Creek Grist Mill is in Babcock State Park  located along the New River Gorge in Fayette County, West Virginia. It is located approximately 20 miles away from the New River Gorge Bridge.  The mill is located near the park headquarters and right next to the parking lot.

Maps:

Interactive Google Map

Use the map  + – controls to zoom in and out, click and drag the to move the map, use the Map drop-down to change to “Map”, “Satellite”, “Hybrid”, or “Terrain” views.  Drag the little man icon from the upper left corner to a map location for street level view.