That's My World Tuesday #14: Lassiter Falls

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"Millrace at Lassiter Falls"
Raleigh, NC - November 2008 (Click to embiggen)

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At one time as many as 70 different water-powered mills were scattered across Wake County providing grain, lumber and in many cases a social center for residents of the communities they served. Mill ponds were common gathering places for fishing, swimming, and other social events. The lives of the community were inextricably tied to these facilities. What you see here is all that remains of Lassiter Mill, which was destroyed by fire in 1959. The site was originally called the "Great Falls of Crabtree" and was home to a number of mills beginning around 1780 -- a full 10 years before the City of Raleigh was founded. Though not the oldest mill in the area, it -- along with Yates Mill further to the south -- would continue to operate until the mid 20th Century. (Yates Mill closed under less dramatic circumstances in the same year that Lassiter Mill burned.) After passing through a succession of owners and operators, Cornelius Lassiter purchased the property in 1908 and built 2 40-horsepower turbines to harness the power of Crabtree Creek in the pursuit of milling both grain and lumber (this seemingly odd combination of businesses was common at the time). The Lassiter family kept the property until recent years when a small collection of upscale homes grew up around the old mill pond. The pond, dam and millrace were turned into a city park and renamed Lassiter Falls. Those of us who could be called "Old Raleigh", though, remember when this tract of land was pretty well untamed and perhaps a little spooky on a dark night.

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