Little River Rope Mills Woodstock, GA

All Text & Images: Copyright (2013)

Ruins of this mill operation, often referred to as the Rope Mill, are found along the banks of Little River at Olde Rope
Mill Park.   A grist mill at this site in the late 1840s evolved into a cotton and wool yarn mill in the 1870s.   Eventually
the mill produced cotton rope used for well rope and plow lines.   The mill building was a wood-frame structure on the
north side of the river, replaced by brick in 1903; it closed in 1949 in anticipation of the construction of Allatoona Dam.

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Walking to the river from the parking area, a hint of ruins is visible on the far bank...

Crossing the footbridge and turning right leads to the old mill complex:

Ruins of various buildings on the hillside

Foundations and floor of main mill structure

From the river

Mill water entry and sluice gate

The lower level...   This mill utilized a turbine in lieu of a water wheel. Based on the layout, I'd guess that the turbine works were located here.

Floor rubble

Iron re-bars

This angled water channel wall was mortised on both sides for a gate of some sort.

Lower end of millrace.   There would have been some mechanism here to control waterflow flow to the mill or divert back to the river.

Detail of millrace wall base.

The water from the millrace would enter the mill through this channel.

Cavity at one of millrace sluice-gate positions

Millrace

Sluice-gate frame

I retraced my steps to where I had first entered the mill complex, and started up the slope:

Wall jutting from hill

Mid-slope foundation ruins

Foundation further up the hill...

Mossy block

I searched the hillside for more structures and then worked my way back to the river, coming out near the top of the millrace:

Millrace inlet-approach

Breached dam

Probably the remains of a sluice gate to control entry of water into the millrace.

Mallards

Millrace, looking downstream.

Foundation wall

Following the millrace downstream, I again approached the main mill area:

Support/base of some long-gone machinery...

Looking down through a hole in the floor...

The ruins here were a mix of brick, stone and concrete.

Opening into part of mill's basement

Basement.   Do I see some of the cotton rope produced here?

Opening into another basement section

Crossing the bridge back to the SW side of the river, I walked upstream for a ways:

Little River and breached dam.

Detail of the broken dam.   The millrace approach, seen earlier, is behind it.

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All Text & Images: Copyright 2013.