Cable Mill - Water Wheel - Cades Cove, Tennessee, USA.
N 35° 35.115 W 083° 50.664
17S E 242270 N 3941672
John P. Cable Mill, water wheel is still used to grind corn as an exhibit for visitors to the Cades Cove, Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee.
Waymark Code: WMNWMZ
Location: Tennessee, United States
Date Posted: 05/13/2015
Views: 8
The Cable Water Mill is one of the most popular stops on the 11 mile one way Cades Cove tour. Cades Cove along with all of its historic structures, s open from mid-April until the end of October each year.
John P. Cable Mill:
"In Cades Cove there were few sources of power which the frontiersman knew how to harness. One of those power sources was the water wheel such as drove the early grist mills. Cable Mill is one of those. The Smoky Mountains Natural History Association keeps Cable Mill running in Cades Cove to teach the Smoky Mountain visitor a little about life in the 1800’s. The mill is operated April-October.
A handful of enterprising residents in Cades Cove built water driven mills to grind grain. Their hope was that other Cades Cove families would prefer paying them to grind the grain rather than to struggle with the small inefficient tub mills at home. The tub mills were only capable of processing a bushel of corn each day. The entrepreneurs were correct and ran fine business in Cades Cove as a result.
Cornmeal was the only grain that could be ground in the tub mills and so the waterwheel driven mills that could grind wheat into flour was a welcome addition to the cove. Now biscuits could be eaten some of the time instead of cornbread." Text Source: (
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