19th century industry in the American South: Scull Shoals Mill Village

Summary

The shoals of the Oconee River have greatly influenced early American settlement and land use in Georgia, one of the United States’ original thirteen colonies.   Scull Shoals, a major river crossing in what is now Greene County, became the location of a small frontier settlement on the east bank of the Oconee River in the 1790s.  After the turn of the century, industry at the shoals included a water-powered grist mill and Georgia’s first paper mill.  In the following decades, mill operations at Scull Shoals would expand to include grist, flour, and saw mills, while its largest industrial entity, a cotton gin and factory, necessitated the creation of a village to house entire families of workers.  Recent archaeological investigations at Scull Shoals conducted by the US Forest Service clarify the configuration of a historic mill village and provide a fresh interpretation to the early industrialization of the American South.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Welcome to the Machine: Industrial Sites and Communities   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2013

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Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 617