Arrival at Greenfield Mills

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On this map, the green marker is at the likely location of the “Pleasant Island” on Crooked Creek that Ethel Hand Armstrong told about. My route for last Saturday’s ride (March 27) is shown in red. The red pushpin marks the first of my destinations for the day: Greenfield Mills. It’s upstream from the Pleasant Island location — a distance of about 10 miles by crow. It turned out to be such a good destination that I never made it to the second.

I have ridden many times in LaGrange County. The town of Mongo was the scene of one of the more amusing anecdotes (though not a well documented one) from the Black Hawk war scare. There are several other places in the county that are favorites of mine, always worth revisiting. But this time I decided to do something different and explore the outer edges of the known world, where the known world is defined by a LaGrange county map. Greenfield Mills is off in the northeast corner of that world.

BTW, Greenfield Township, the northeasternmost township of the county, is probably the one where Ethel Hand’s father, John, was born. The census records from the time show some Hands living in that township, and shows them as having come from Ohio, which also matches what Ethel told about her father’s family.

I hadn’t expected to find anything more than a few houses where a village had once been. Maybe if I was lucky I could look at the stream and get an idea of where the millpond and millrace had been. Sometimes at these old mill sites there are still visible traces.

What I hadn’t expected was a big mill building that said “Greenfield Mills — New Rinkel Flower”

Even more of a surprise was the sign on the door that said, “Greenfield Mills – Old Mill Store – Indiana’s Oldest Water-Powered Mill – Built in 1846 – Family-Owned and Operated since 1904 – Hours 9:30-12:00 1:00-4:00 Mon-Fri – 260-367-2394 – Tours by Appointment.” The building looked well worn and there was nobody around. I didn’t have an appointment and this was Saturday, not Mon-Fri. But there was a sign in the window that said “Open” and there were lights on inside. As soon as I took a few photos, I planned to at least knock on the door.

YTD mileage: 305.5