Bowen's Mill

Front: This mill was built about 1880 by Colonel Robert E. Bowen (1830-1909), Confederate officer, state representative, state senator, and Pickens County businessman. Bowen, a prominent advocate for progressive farming, was also active in the railroad and timber industries. In addition to this mill, the complex here included a store, blacksmith’s shop, saw mill, and cotton gin. Reverse: The mill passed through several owners in the first quarter of the twentieth century, from Bowen’s son James O. Bowen to Albert B. Kay and Kay’s widow Tallulah, and then successively to R.T. Waddell, Ida S. Johnson, and a Mrs. Shembosky, who sold it to Hovey A. Lark (1890-1968) during the Depression. Lark ground corn here from the early 1930s until about 1965.