Potato Creek Mill and Dam in Thomaston, Georgia

The mill and Potato Creek Dam in the 1960s

Although the grist mill hasn't stood for 30 years or more, the site of the old mill and dam at Potato Creek in Thomaston, Georgia has fascinated me ever since I was a young child. I recall stories of the old mill told by mother, grandmother, and Aunt Anne as far back as I can remember. What fun they must have all had at Potato Creek Beach, as they called it.

I'm not entirely sure when the old mill was built, but I'm going to assume the late 1800s. I've heard it referred to as the old Reeves Mill as well as the Potato Creek Mill, but I'm not sure which is correct. My great grandparents, Thomas Alton Franklin and Ida Boggs Franklin, as well as their six children, lived in the mill from 1934 to 1937. Those six children were Wilmoth (my grandmother), Anne (my great aunt), Percy, Joe, Fred, and Andy. Thankfully Aunt Anne is still alive and she was able to tell me her first-hand account of what life at the mill was like. She informed me that they lived at the old mill itself until there was a big fire in 1936. The Franklin family had to live in the storage building, which was attached to the mill, for 3 months until the damage was repaired.

The site of the mill and what's left of Potato Creek Dam in May 2016

The mill in 1945.

A drawing by Sandra Herring depicting what the mill looked like historically (2000).

The site of the old mill can be found close to the intersection of Old County Road and W Moore's Crossing Road. Technically, in the heyday of the mill, that area was considered part of Upson County and not the Thomaston proper. Aunt Anne stated that a walk from the mill to her school, Robert E. Lee Institute was a 3.1 mile trek both ways. She and everyone else had to walk that each day come rain or shine.

Map of old mill site.

The Fall of the House of Stevens-Snider

Encompassed by venerable pecan and oak trees sits a house that must have been quite grand in its time. Architecturally, it would be classified as a vernacular farmhouse; however, the house would fit right in any Southern historic district of a city. From my research, I've determined the house was built circa 1910 and it is located between Buena Vista, Georgia and Ellaville, Georgia. Additionally, a local resident of the area has informed me that the house has been abandoned for thirty years or more and has not had any work done to it in ten years time.

I have been taking notice of the the Stevens-Snider house for over twenty years, and at one time, I hoped it might have been restored. However, since 2005 it has fallen in ill repair. The roof was no longer a suitable protector of the house beginning around 2010, and by 2012 the roof shingles were starting to come off. It wasn't long before more and more exposed wood became quite prominent leading to rot of the structure. It is now 2016 and so much wood has rotted that the second floor is now collapsing into the first floor.

The house appears to be rapidly returning declining, so if you would like to visit it, I suggest you do so as soon as possible. However, I advise against entering the home because it is private property, and structurally unsafe.

The house in 2010. 

I do not own this image and will remove it by request.

The house in 2012.

The house in 2016.

If you are traveling along Highway 26 from Buena Vista to Ellaville, the house is located on the left side of the highway right after the intersection of Highway 26 and Highway 112. It is about halfway between Buena Vista and Ellaville.