Careful What You Look For: The Millstone

I love to visit the Irish Bred Pub & Restaurant in downtown Douglasville. I like the exposed old brick inside the dining room, the tall windows at the front, and the old photographs of Douglasville as it used to be handing along the walls. The food and the fellowship are great ingredients, too!

Earlier this month I had lunch at the pub with a friend to discuss local history. It was the perfect location since the pub building itself has a long history as does the entire commercial district along Broad Street.

The day was cold and rainy, and since Broad Street was closed due to the train accident and subsequent clean up I hurried through O'Neal Plaza and into the pub without much notice of my surroundings. Had my visit to the pub been during the early 1970s or much earlier during the 1940s or even back to the 1920s, I would have seen a round item encased in the cement resembling a wheel of some sort in front of the storefront.

I would have seen a millstone, items long associated with harvest and hospitality. This particular millstone has quite a history and according to a past county historian it symbolizes the gratitude of a people for their time of great need.

The stone is actually from a mill that was located along the banks of Anneewakee Creek. 

Arnold Mill was built by pioneer Alston Arnold after he came to Georgia via South Carolina in the 1830s. He situated the mill at the mouth of Anneewakee Creek, and it later provided to be a most advantageous spot for him and for the people of Douglas County.

The mill was quite an enterprise for its day. Local historians advise the mill was three stories high and also had the capability of sawing wood as well. A small community even sprang up around the water-powered business.

During the 1880s a terrible drought lasting six months hit north Georgia including Douglas County. Many of the mills could no longer grind grain and corn because the water powering the millstones had dried up.

However, due to its position at the mouth of the creek Arnold Mill was able to put precious corn meal into the hands of hungry settlers...



THANK YOU for visiting “Every Now and Then” and reading the first few paragraphs of “Careful What You Look For: The Millstone“ which is now one of the 140 chapters in my book “Every Now and Then: The Amazing Tales of Douglas County, Volume I”. 

Visit the Amazon link by clicking the book cover below where you can explore the table of contents and read a few pages of the book…plus make a purchase if you choose!