The Cooper Mill is is a functioning grist mill, restored, maintained and operated by the Morris County Park Commission. Click on the triangle at the lower left-hand corner of each video to see (and hear) how the components of the grist mill work when the water wheel is activated.
The sluice-gate is opened and the weight of the faling water causes the wheel to turn ...
... driving the gears and pulleys inside the mill.
It was grinding work!
No, they're not cookies. This is a functioning checkerboard from the 19th century utilizing what was, for its time, the latest in gaming technology. The pieces are slices of corn-cob, with a hole in middle for "red" and no hole for "black". (Or maybe it's the other way around.)
Mr. Cooper has been managing the mill since the 19th century, yet he seems at home in the 21st.
Cups on the leather belt lift the grain to the upper floor of the building.
Drive shafts spin ...
... belts on pulleys pull ...
... drive wheels rotate ...
The grain falls into the spinning millstone. The upper stone spins ...
... and out comes flour!
Grinding by hand was a lot harder.
The mill-pond provides the water to power the water-wheel.
The Morris County Park Commission gives a great tour of the mill. You'll see history come alive and you'll learn a lot.
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