Mingus Mill - An 1886 Turbine Mill

Mingus Mill, an 1886 turbine mill, ground corn into meal and wheat into flour for over fifty years for the mountain community near Mingus Creek. In place of a wooden water wheel, a small steel turbine provided power to turn the mill’s stones and machinery. The National Park Service rehabilitated the mill in 1968, and Mingus Mill operates during the summer as an historical exhibit. In 1937, Mingus Mill was one of the first buildings restored as an historic structure in the newly created Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The labor for the restoration work was provided by the Civilian Conservation Corps, a depression-era public works program.

Mingus Mill is one of more than 80 buildings that are maintained as historic structures by Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Mingus Mill is located about two miles from Cherokee Indian Reservation, Cherokee, NC.