The History of John's Mill/J.W. Dean's Mill
Updated: Sep 25
In 1966, John Humphreys moved to the Hinton area of Pickens County. A machinist by trade, he purchased the land of the former Dean Mill to build a new grist mill. He had experience with mills. The part of Tennessee where he was raised had many grist mills nearby. And shortly after High School, the 18-year-old Humphreys bought a broken-down mill - until he was forced by his parents to sell it back.
It took John two years to find a salvaged waterwheel for the mill. By 1968, his grist mill was operational. For decades he kept the mill open on the weekends to allow visitors and buyers of corn meal to come by. There were also numerous field trips to the mill attended by the schoolkids of Pickens County and a yearly trip as part of a historic site tour.
Today, he's 84, and although he still tinkers around his 61-acre property, he no longer opens the mill to the public. It's been closed to the public for decades. Luckily for me, I happen to know a good friend of John. While exploring the Carver Mill Road area for a piece I was writing on tornadoes, I visited the mill site to see if the storm damaged it.
It wouldn't be the first time a mill at the property was washed away. The J.W. Dean Mill was destroyed and rebuilt at least two times. In 1929, Scarecorn Creek flooded, and the eastern part of the rock dam above the mill was destroyed. Two brothers in the rock mason profession, Jimmy and Hancell Long, helped rebuild the dam. A new metal mill race was installed and in 1938, a great flood washed away the Dean Mill and several other mills along the creek. Further away, in Whitestone, twelve members of the Connor family drowned when their house moved off the foundation in the flood. The Dean family rebuilt the mill.
J.W. Dean's property, at the height of its operation, had a dam, hammer mill, grist mill, sawmill, and cotton gin, all powered by water.
J.W. Dean rebuilt the mill again and operated it for another 13 years before he passed away in 1951. In total, J.W. Dean operated the mill for 43 years.
Prior to being owned by the Dean family, who purchased the mill in 1912. The land was owned by David Andrew Thompson. Mr. Thompson had a rental property and originally J.W., having experience working with mills, lived in the rental and ran a wheat and corn mill for Thompson. The Thompson family sold 160 acres of LL 273 to him in 1912.
The flagstone dam at the property is thought to have been built in 1840 and again in 1854. If this is true, it would have originally been a part of Cherokee County. Folklore states that the dam may have been a project by the Atherton Brothers. As of yet, I cannot confirm.
About two years ago a local painter named Shelia Olsen asked me In the Spring of 2024 contacted me. She had seen a picture I had taken of John’s Mill on a Facebook history page. She asked permission to paint the mill. We agreed for her oil on canvas for a commission.
She and I met at a gas station to make the transaction when the idea dawned on me. Instead of hanging the beautiful artwork in my house, why not surprise John and his family with it? Sheila was touched by the idea and declined payment for the painting.
I excitedly drove to John's Mill and met with his family. I pulled out the painting and showed him. His merry face shined with delight. He asked if I had painted it, and I told him it was done by a nice lady who saw a photo of his mill. He was thrilled to learn the painting was for him. John confided that over the decades many people took photographs, made postcards and calendars with promises of giving him something in return never to return. This was not going to be one of those days.
Gleefully, he said he was going to hang it in his house. These days John is 84 and doesn’t get around much. The mill doesn’t get any visitors. But better late than never, he was rewarded for his kindness and willingness to share his creation.
Special thanks to Shelia Olsen for her beautiful rendition of the mill and willingness to give her art as freely as John gives his kindness.
I am a grandson of James Washington Dean. J. W. And Nancy Jane Reynolds Dean had 11 children. 6 boys and 5 girls. before he ran and eventually purchasing the mil complex, he and my dad ran a mill located just down stream from Carver bridge. J. W. also operated a grist mill near ball creek. my dad, Troy E Dean and mother Mary Lucille Davis Dean lived in the little house just above the grist mill and little store. They also lived in the little house that sat along side the branch just before the spring. Bobby Jack Dean