| The Francis Mill was on the verge of collapse when Tanna Timbes contacted HCN for assistance. The resulting partnership between Heritage Conservation Network and the Francis Mill Preservation Society has since generated hundreds of volunteer hours at the mill during week-long hands-on building conservation workshops in 2004 and 2005. As a result, the mill stands completely stable, fully enclosed and weathertight for the first time in many years. The last remaining grist mill in Haywood County, North Carolina is well on its way to being operational once again.
 The 2005 workshop was held the final two weeks of July and during that time, the hard-working crew of workshop participants and local volunteers accomplished significant quantities of work. The 2005 workshop focused on three main issues: the east side framing, the building’s siding, and the beam that supports the millstones. Participants were able to complete Dutchman repairs to the wide support beams under the mill stones and prepare and install new white oak timber posts in east wall framing. They made joist end repairs and installed new floor joists and floor planks for the machine room floor (ground level) to match the original size and locations and reinstalled old siding and batten on the south side, including securing old siding on north side, east end. Other work included restoration of fascia and eave moulding on south end of east side cornice. The last major task was the layout and installation of new siding on the upper east wall.
 Among the skills participants learned during the workshop were how to use a circular saw and hammer nails; how to make tenons by cutting kerfs using a worm drive circular saw; how to cut mortises using a chain mortiser; and how to cut new molding knives to use to cut new battens for the siding.
As with the workshop the previous year, the project benefited tremendously from the support of the local community. FMPS members, community businesses and well wishers donated lunches and other supplies for the work crews and the restoration work. Of the 780 hours of volunteer labor generated during the two weeks of the workshop, 453, or 58 per cent of the total, came from FMPS volunteers. Four of the full time participants had been part of the the 2004 workshop, as had many of the local volunteers who pitched in for various amounts of time.
Much of the local community has been involved with the preservation of the Francis Mill. Passers-by often stop to take pictures and ask questions about the mill and the work being completed.
 The 2005 workshop built upon the work completed at the previous year’s workshop. In 2004, the primary task was to replace the heavily deteriorated east side sill beam in order to stabilize the building. The east side, where the waterwheel is located, was the most deteriorated due to continual splashing during the mill’s operation causing the wood to rot. The other three sides of the structure were in much better condition. The ten participants came from nine different states and included graduate students, a historic architect, timber framers and mill enthusiasts.
Work the first week included documenting the sill beam to be replaced and creating measured drawings of the east side of the building. Workshop participants, supplemented by local volunteers and member of the Francis Mill Preservation Society, jacked up the building and removed the old beam. Then they measured and cut pockets and mortises in the beam and five new posts. They also poured concrete footings to support the new replacement posts.
 The replacement sill beam was a 10 ½” square x 26’ hemlock that had been cut from a hemlock tree donated by a neighbor. Once the mortises had all been measured and made, focus shifted to getting the mill ready for it. The newly skilled workers made Dutchman repairs to the ends of the north sill beam and the end of one of the lower tie beams in order to create new tenons that would join the old and new sill beams.
 Participants in the first week had also cut a new beam to support the end of the millstone shaft support beam, which went between the 2nd and 3rd posts. The locations of all the mortises on the posts were checked again and then the posts were brought by tractor over to the mill. They had to be hoisted into place, made level, and measured a final time for the correct height. Adjustments were made, lead squares hammered onto each corner to keep the wood from contacting the concrete and then a team of the heartiest workers lifted each post – weighing several hundred pounds – into place. The procedure was repeated for each post.
The final challenge was figuring out how to get the main sill beam into place. It was simply too big for even a crew twice as big to lift and maneuver. A crane seemed the only way to get it close, given the complication of the proximity of the waterwheel to the structure and the wheel’s precarious position and condition. After the posts and cross beam had been set in place, the team built a platform level with the tops of the posts to serve as a temporary platform for the sill beam. Once the crane set the beam on the temporary supports, the hardy crew slid it into place and secured it with pegs and restored diagonal bracing. The crane operator then lifted the water wheel from its rotted support and workers hauled a temporary replacement beam into place, correcting the tilt and lifting it from the bottom of the timber-lined wheel well.
Funding for restoration work at the Francis Mill has been provided by the Society for the Preservation of Old Mills (SPOOM), the Society for Industrial Archaeology, and the Terence L. Mills Preservation Fund for North and South Carolina, as well as the Francis Cove and Waynesville communities.
|
