Off the beaten path

Today, we went off the beaten path to do some sight seeing! First we stopped at a made to scale replica of Stone Henge, but it was made out of foam...so they named it Foam Henge! Our next stop was Wade's Mill, which is a grist (water) mill that has been in use since the 1800's! Since I mill my own wheat, this was very fascinating to see on such a large scale. The fact that it was still being used today to stone grind wheat, was even more fascinating! After that, we stumbled upon another mill down the road. It was the home of Cyrus McCormick who is the inventor of the reaper. This invention lead to the development of the modern day combine. We were able to see the McCormick homestead, slave quarters, grist mill, blacksmith shop (where Cyrus worked on his inventions), and some of the McCormick reaper's. It was neat to see how grain was processed! You can follow the links to learn more about these attractions. Check in tomorrow for more pictures of our last summer vacation!