Carl J. McEwen Historic Village
A 'For Sale' sign hammered into the front lawn of the old country doctor's building was all the motivation needed to begin the Mint Hill Historical Society. Twenty-one citizens signed the charter in 1985 with the purpose of preserving the history of the area. The Mint Hill Country Doctor's Museum was the first restoration project. Today, everyone is invited to take a step into history at the Carl J. McEwen Historic Village. Visitors can walk through the restored Country Doctor’s Office, the Ashcraft one room schoolhouse, the Ira V. Ferguson Country Store and the Gold Assay office where miners brought their ore to see if they had struck it rich!! Other outbuildings in the village like the blacksmith shop, corn crib, Woodwright shop, mill, and meat curing building reflect the rural nature of early Mint Hill. Join the children and adults alike who find excitement and enchantment as they step back in time in the village.
Lesson 1: What is a Millstone?
Millstones were used in gristmills, for grinding wheat or other grains. Millstones come in pairs. The base is stationary and usually slightly convex. Above the base is the turning runner stone which actually does the grinding and is usually concave. The type of stone most suitable for making millstones is a siliceous rock called buhrstone, an open-textured, porous but tough, fine-grained sandstone. But depending on the country of origin, millstones could be made from a wide variety of other stones such as granite, Belgian dark marble, German Cullen stones, or porous lava.
Neolithic or “New Stone Age” man utilized millstones to process grains, nuts and other vegetable food products for consumption and also used them to grind pigments and metal ores prior to smelting. Millstones made from volcanic lava have been recovered from two Roman villa sites in southern Italy from the 1st century BC. Over the course of many centuries to follow, millstones remained an important tool for grinding grains into fine flours and coarse meals.
When deemed no longer suitable for practical use, worn out or broken millstones were often reborn as components in new bridge construction or used to rebuild mill dams. When marching around France, Napoleon was quoted as being surprised by how many old broken millstones were recycled as bridge abutments.
Today, millstones are mostly used as garden decorations if they are still fully intact. Genuinely antique millstones are becoming harder to find as their popularity creates a higher demand, therefore many of the ones you see today are reproduction millstones. These new reproduction millstones are likely made of cheap sandstone or other materials and would not withstand being used as they once were.
Lesson 2: Limestone/Buhrstone:
Limestone is a sedimentary rock, and like many other sedimentary rocks, it is composed in grains, most of which include skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera. Limestone often contains variable amounts of silica in the form of chert (flint or jasper are good examples) or siliceous skeletal fragment (sponge and diatoms), and varying amounts of precipitation of calcite or aragonite. Secondary calcite may be deposited by saturated meteoric waters (groundwater in caves). This produces stalagmites and stalactites.
The primary source of the calcite in limestone is most commonly marine organisms. Some of these organisms can construct mounds of rock known as reefs, building upon past generations. Below about 3,000 meters, water pressure and temperature conditions cause the formation of calcite to increase, so limestone typically does not form in deeper waters. About 10% of all sedimentary rocks are limestone.
Limestone is very common in architecture, especially in Europe and North America. Many landmarks across the world, including the Great Pyramid in Egypt, were made of limestone. Many buildings in Ontario, Canada were, and continue to be, constructed from it, so much so, that it is nicknamed the 'Limestone City'. On the island of Malta, a variety of limestone called Globigerina limestone was, for a long time, the only building material available, and is still very frequently used on all types of buildings and sculptures. Limestone is readily available and relatively easy to cut into blocks or more elaborate carving. Ancient American sculptors valued limestone because it was easy to work and good for fine detail. Limestone was most popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Train stations, banks and other structures from that era are typically made of limestone. It is used as a facade on some skyscrapers, but only in thin plates for covering, rather than solid blocks. In Indiana, most notably the Bloomington area, there has long been a source of high quality quarried limestone, called Indiana limestone. Many famous buildings in London are built from Portland limestone. Limestone is still very commonly used today for many buildings and structures.
Now into Buhrstone...
There is not much we know about Buhrstone, there has not been a lot of research into it, and the only historical use for it was for millstones. Buhrstone is a tough, silicified limestone that was specifically and formerly used to make millstones. It is typified by the presence of multiple cavities that originally housed fossilized shells. By definition, siliceous limestone has an intimate mixture of calcium carbonate and chemically precipitated silica that are strongly believed to have accumulated simultaneously. Because Buhrstone is a siliceous limestone, it is extremely strong and dense, which made it perfect for grinding up other metal ores and various grains and meal.
EarthCache Information:
Parking has been provided at the waypoints below, please park in front of the building or directly behind in the gravel parking lot.
The coordinates above take you directly to the subject of our lessons, but take a stroll and enjoy the entire historical village and the Letterbox Hybrid geocache located on the premises (Discover Mint Hill Historical Society)
After your geology lessons there is also a really cool blacksmithing shop in the village! This is located directly behind you as you stand at the millstone, and has some cool vintage blacksmithing tools on display on and around the shop.
Please do not disturb any of the shops or vintage farm equipment/tools on site.
EarthCache Logging Requirements:
Please message me the answers to the questions below!
1. How wide is the face of the millstone? How thick is the millstone?
2. What is the approximate volume of the millstone in cubic inches (Radius x Radius x Thickness x π)?
3. Using your answer from #2, approximately how heavy is the millstone (assuming it is limestone and in kilograms)? Use this to calculate your answer.
4. Enough math! What is siliceous limestone and how is it believed to be made?
5. What US state has produced high quality quarried limestone, and what specific area?
6. What percentage of sedimentary rocks are limestone?
BONUS Location Questions:
According to the sign on the vintage gas pump, what metal does the motor fuel contain?
When Grandpa said he was going to visit Uncle John, everyone knew he was heading to the "_________ ____ ."
That's all folks!
Thank you for taking the time to view and hopefully walk around the beautiful Mint Hill Historical Society. This is my first EarthCache and the only one in Mint Hill.
