Hagood Mill Historic Site (SC)
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Hagood Mill Visitor Center & Entrance
The period style visitor center/gift shop building didn't have much to offer us this day as it was closed during our visit...
Hagood Mill Historic Site Entrance
Entering the site...
Entering the site each of the main structures could be seen. From left to right are the Hagood Cabin (early 1800's), Murphree-Hollingswoth Cabin (1791), Petroglyph Site, and Hagood Mill (1845)...
The first structures we passed are re-created outbuildings housing pottery and farming displays. These structures house crafting demonstrations which take place once a month at the site...
Hagood & Murphree-Hollingsworth Cabins
These are the two historic cabins located at the Hagood Mill Site. Similar in design, they were typical dwellings for the era in which they were built. Neither cabin rests on the original sites they were built but both hail from the immediate surrounding area. The Hagood Cabin was loacted about a half-mile from the current site while the Murphree-Hollingsworth Cabin was originally located in Pickens...
Hagood Cabin (ca. early 1800's)
The Hagood Cabin was built by Benjamin Hagood on property about a half mile from the current site. The cabin sports two unique design features. First is the fact that it was constructed as a "five log-er"...meaning that only five logs, each 18" thick, were used to construct each wall floor to ceiling. Second is an interior log wall which divides what would usually be a one-room cabin into two rooms. It is speculated that this has either to do with the fact that the home may have doubled as a type of store or trading post or possibly it was just built this way for added strengthening of the structure...
Two-thirds of the main is open living space as one might expect in a cabin from this period. Sparsely decorated, the spinning wheels are used during crafting demonstrations at the site...
The unusual second room which may have housed a store or trading post is much smaller. Again, the large loom pictured here is likely used during crafting demonstrations at the site...
Hagood Cabin (ca. early 1800's)
It is obvious that a great deal of care has gone into restoring this cabin. As of 2003, though the major pieces of the structure were intact, it was basically a pile of wood on someones back property. The historic society which operates the site should be commended for the work they've done here bringing the old cabin back to life...
Murphree-Hollingsworth Cabin (ca. 1791)
The oldest structure at the site, and indeed one of the oldest in all of surrounding Pickens County, the Murphree-Hollingsworth Cabin was originally built for Baptist minister Reverend William Murphree. Later in its life, around 1868, it was used as temporary housing for Lafayette Hollingsworth of Pickens who was building another home nearby. The home fell into disrepair as it approached its 200th birthday but, in 1999, it was donated to the site and painstakingly reconstructed...
Murphree-Hollingsworth Cabin - Interior
As opposed to the Hagood Cabin the interior here has been set up a bit more like what it may have when the Murphree or Hollingsworth families lived here...
Murphree-Hollingsworth Cabin - Interior
The other half of the first floor living space. The cabin does have an upstairs but its off-limits to visitors...
Hagood Creek Petroglyph Site from Cabins
After touring the cabins we decided to head over to the adjacent Petroglyph Site before continueing on to the mill itself...
Opened within the past year, the Hagood Creek Petroglyph Site houses a number of examples of ancient Native American rock art which has been discovered in the Upcountry of South Carolina...
Hagood Creek Petroglyph Site - Interior
Though a bit short on specimens, at least from what I was expecting, there is a ton of information on the various rock art sites in the region. I had no idea there were so many around...
Wickliff Plantation Native American Rock Carving
This specimen discovered near West Union, South Carolina has numerous figures and drawings on it...
Yet another cool specimen discovered in nearby Greenville County. The large cut on the right of the stone is thought to have been caused by a plow years ago while the rock art can be seen on the left...
Though there was no accompanying interpretive sign, I recognized this (from a previous visit to Judaculla Rock in N.C.) as a boulder which Native Americans had begun to carve soapstone bowls from. You can see two 'bowls' which were never completed...
Behind the Petroglyph Site Hagood Creek tumbles over a couple small ledges creating this scenic cascade. This tiny stream was what powered the nearby mill which we were headed to next...
Hagood Mill Historic Site from Petroglyph Site
Looking back towards the mill (left) with the Murphree-Hollingsworth and Hagood Cabins to the right...
Though a mill was first built here in 1793, the current mill was constructed by Benjamin Hagood's son James in 1845. A gristmill by design, the business stayed in the Hagood family for the entirety of its working existence. I was shocked to discover that it had stayed in operation until 1972!!!
Originally the waters from Hagood Creek which powered the mill were dammed about a quarter-mile upstream and diverted via an earthen ditch into the spillway above. You can still see the remanants of this old ditch by following the nearby nature trail upstream. Today, water is brought up to the spillway using modern pumps...
Entering the mill we were confronted by a dizzying array of levers, belts, and gears....
Here are just a few of the pulleys which operate off the main shaft of the mills' water wheel...
Dave Kathy Weemhoff
on November 1, 2015Quite the place -- love it when great care is taken to preserve history!