Local Heroes Recognized at Historic Yates Mill County Park

By Rebeccah J.W. Cope, Park Manager

Historic Yates Mill County Park will soon feature several new outdoor exhibit panels, in addition to the cultural and natural history exhibits that are already on display in the park’s educational center. The 174-acre park, which opened to the public in May 2006 and has already hosted more than 150,000 visitors, features Historic Yates Mill (circa 1750)—Wake County’s last remaining, water-powered gristmill. Yates Mill ground corn and wheat into meal and flour, sawed logs, and carded wool for over 200 years. It closed for business in the mid 1950s, after which time the building started to physically decline. Thanks to a grassroots, community effort, the mill was saved from near ruin and is now fully restored and operable, with guided tours offered on a regular basis and corn-grindingdemonstrations bycostumed interpreters offered on the third weekend ofeach month, March through November. NC State University professor, Dr. Don Barnes, who was teaching classes in the mid 1970s with the then School ofDesign, became increasingly concerned about the physical decline ofthe mill and interested in trying to restore it for educational purposes. Barnes decided to make Yates Mill the focus ofhis historic preservation and architecture classes, and worked with his students to clean up and create measured drawings ofthe mill, to research possible restoration techniques, and to build a blacksmith shop on-site to be used for educational purposes, among other activities. The shop (or “log cabin”) remains on-site today and is used for educational demonstrations and park storage. One ofthe new outdoor exhibit panels will focus on these early efforts to save the mill. The panel, made ofembedded fiberglass, metal and wood, will soon be located near the cabin and tell the Design School story. Other outdoor exhibits will focus on park habitats and wildlife. For more information on the planned outdoor exhibits and/or to learn more about mill tours and other park programs, please call the park office at 919-856-6675.