War Eagle Mill

This weekend I wandered into a region of the Ozarks that I haven't visited in several years. Midway between Eureka Springs and Rogers, Arkansas, just to the south of Beaver Lake, is War Eagle Mill.

It's been beautifully restored and is fully functional, but unlike any other historic mill in the region I'm aware of, is commercially producing meals and flours. It was running when I was there and I took this photo of the water powered burr mill.

On the first floor, in addition to the mill itself, is an extensive selection of whole grain products to choose from. It was a beautiful October Saturday and visitors were lined up making purchases, myself included. On the second floor is a gift shop with the more traditional "touristy" items, and on the third a restaurant serving breads made from grain milled onsite.

I'm pretty into the whole-grain lifestyle, not necessarily for the health benefits, though that is reason enough by itself, but because it just tastes so damned much better than supermarket fluff. I went with the cornbread sandwich for lunch and it was outstanding. If your tastes run to Wonder Bread and french fries you might do better waiting until you get back to town.

Rather than recite the history of the mill here I'll save space and link to the excellent web page:

http://www.wareaglemill.com/history.htm

If you are in Eureka Springs and get weary of looking at Victorian Houses, or if you are in the Springfield/Joplin/Rogers area and want a great day trip, check out War Eagle.

On a side note, check out the old iron bridge in the first photo. It's a working piece of history as well. I particularly enjoyed walking across it because it reminded me so much of another great old bridge that sadly had to be replaced. On the Black River, just downstream from Lesterville, is a historic resort called Black River Lodge. Until a couple of years ago there was a turn-of-the century iron bridge there with wooden deck stringers. I always loved crossing that bridge. Here is a site with some great photos of it.

http://bridges.midwestplaces.com/mo/reynolds/lesterville/

The new bridge is wider, safer, and far more efficient, but I know a lot of folks like myself that feel like they lost an old friend.