Baldwin County GAGenWeb
Fraley's Ferry and Mill
Memoirs of Tut Taylor
"There
was a mill not to far up the river from Fraley's Ferry where we lived. We moved
into Milledgeville sometime around 1930. There was a dam to be built and all the
folks in the basin had to move out. Ironically the dam wasn't finished. As a
teenager my friends and I often went back up to Fraley's Ferry and played in the
river near the ruins of the old mill. At that time there were some stone pillars
at the edge of the river and parts of the raceway that diverted the stream to
power the wheel. The water rushed through at a tremdous speed. We didn't play
there...too dangerous even for adventures boys.
My folks operated the ferry. They told of many experiences with it. I'll give
you one.....The work crews cutting down the
trees and clearing out the basin stayed near my grandmothers home. They were
quarted in some hastily thrown up buildings and my and grandmother and others
were involved in feeding the crew. When they went into town they would come down
and ride across on the ferry. ( It was called a "flat" in those days. One very
hot day after getting on the ferry one of the workers jumped off the ferry into
the river and never came up.They searched for the body by floating bales of hay
down the river. It was
thought that the hay woud stop over the body. They never found him. I don't know
how the idea of the hay came about. No one ever told me. Anyway....life was good
then but tough. I'm glad I had a part of it."
Tut Taylor
Map is 1912 map, surveyed in 1909 by the Department of the Interior