Springmill Pioneer Village is in Spring Mill State Park near Bedford, about a 100 miles south of Indianapolis. It was a real functioning village in the 1800's. The state park also has a few caves, the Hamer pioneer cemetery and a nice virgin forest. I will insert a little village history along with the photographs.
Page 1
Map of the Pioneer Village
I will post a map at the top of each page.
View of Mill Creek Before Reaching the Pioneer Village
A view of the beautiful stream on the way to the village from the
parking lot, a distance of about three hundred yards. This is a
beautiful and historical place, one of my favorites in Indiana and one I
have visited a good number of times since 1964.
First Glimpse of the Village
The Weaver’s Shop on
the left and the Mill in the distance. The small light blue building to
the right is the Mercantile Shop, the Apothecary Shop and Meeting House
not seen in this photo are farther to the right. The small brown
structure to the right of the log cabin is the north end of the saw
mill. This view is looking southwest.
Grist Mill, Saw Mill & Flume
My favourite view of the mill is from this footbridge, you can see where
the path crosses the stream in the map below. This more distant view
not only shows the footbridge but also the Mercantile shop on the right.
Also note the long flume in the distance, high upon the stone piers. As
you can see on the map, the road through the village is on the other
side of the mill and shop. This view is looking southwest.
Mill Race
After crossing the footbridge and moving a bit to the west you will see
this head on view of the mill race which of course is where the water
flows from the mill. This view looking south, shows the rear of the
Mercantile and Apothecary shops to the right and also the rear of the
grist mill and the saw mill to the left. These photos were taken on June
29, 2010.
Grist & Saw Mills
The Bullitt brothers built the grist mill in 1817 after purchasing the
land from Samuel Jackson Jr. and it was the Montgomery brothers from
Philadelphia that later built the saw mill as well as the tavern,
distillery and post office. This view is looking to the southwest.
Straight On View of the Mill & Water Wheel
The Hamer brothers were the next owners and they remodeled the two existing homes, a school and named the village, “Springmill”. The log cabin in the distance behind the stone pier and flume is the “Upper Residence”. These photos were taken on June 29, 2010.
Grist Mill Water Wheel
A closer look at the water wheel. Years ago the mill was grinding corn
or whatever much of the time. When I was there nine days ago the wheel
was not in use….hard times?
Closeup View of the Water Wheel
I thought perhaps this closeup view of the wheel would be interesting to some of you.
Grist Mill Flume
A closeup view of the flume atop the massive stone piers leading from the mill back toward the source of the water which is Hamer cave. The flume is about 500 feet long beginning at a water falls where a small part of the water is funneled into it. It is a short ways from the falls back to the cave.
The Distant Waterfalls & Flume
This view of the flume and the distant waterfalls was taken a short ways from the bend in the flume shown in the distance to the left in the photo above. If you look closely you can see the upper falls. A better photo of the falls can be captured from this side of the stream but there is no trail…just high weeds and snakes. We’ll take a look at the falls and Hamer cave, the source of the water after touring the village.