Published: March 10, 2009 12:56 pm      

Beasley donates Mill Springs replica to Corps of Engineers

Monticello — For the past six or seven summers, Gilbert Beasley has showed visitors

how the replica of Mill Springs in his yard operated. Drivers would stop at

his home on Circle Drive to admire the details of the mill, which was part

of the landscaping at Beasley's home.

Now, many more people will get to enjoy Beasley's handiwork, as the mill

replica will become an exhibit at the Crops of Engineers' Resource Manager's

Visitors Center in nearby Pulaski County. Beasley generously donated the

replica to the Corps of Engineers in 2008. The exhibit is slated to open

around Memorial Day, according to Judy Daulton with the Corps of Engineers.

"He wanted to find a home for it where it would be seen by the public,"

said Daulton, as she talked about Beasley's donation.

It was Daulton's search for a replica of Mill Springs Mill, which is

managed by the Corps of Engineers, that brought her to Beasley's house. She

visited the Wayne County Museum, where there is a replica of the mill and

she talked with officials there about the possibility of the Corps of

Engineers getting its own replica for an exhibit.

Museum Director Harlan Ogle told Daulton about Beasley, and the mill

that was in his yard.

"I came out and looked at it, and we talked about it," said Daulton.

Beasley said he built the replica in about 2001, when he was 80 years

old. It was fully functioning, including water for the creeks in the mill

area and a pump to move the water.

He said the mill was built to scale and includes all three stories of

the building. He said he had to guess at the sheds on the site, as well as

the pitch of the roof on the building. He said that the replica stood

approximately two and a half to three feet high.

"I like to do things like that," said Beasley.

He used concrete to make the foundation for the mill, including pillars

that the structure sat on.

"I had to repair the wheel last year," said Beasley. "I had to put a

section back in, because it had deteriorated."

That was part of the care Beasely gave the replica over the years. Each

summer it came out of storage and each winter, he put the miniature

structure up so that it would escape the harshest elements.

Beasley even made a cart, out of an old lawn mower, that he used to

carry the replica from the yard to storage.

Beasley said he talked with the local museum about displaying the

replica there, but there wasn't a lot of room available for a piece the size

of the mill. He is pleased that it has now found a permanent home, and he is

looking forward to visiting the exhibit later this year.

"I know that it will have a good place to stay," he said.

Daulton noted that one of the rangers with the Corps of Engineers is

currently in the process of refurbishing the replica, and they are hoping to

power the turning mill with wind instead of water to keep it from

deteriorating again.

Beasley, who was raised in Garrard County and graduated from Paint Lick

High School, vacationed in Wayne County for many years before retiring from

the Proctor and Gamble's Jif peanut butter manufacturing facility.

Daulton noted that the replica of the mill, once it opens, will be on

display year round, Monday through Friday, at the Visitors Center located on

Boat Dock Road in Somerset. She recently presented Beasley a plaque noting

his contribution to the Corps of Engineers.

"We are very appreciative of this," said Daulton. "I know that for the

last five or six years, the Corps has been trying to find someone to do a

duplicate of the mill, and we had pretty much given up."