The Balmoral Grist Mill Museum is a restored 1874 water-powered

grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

located in Balmoral Mills,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. The site includes a walking trail along the ravine of Balmoral Brook. The mill is part of the

Nova Scotia Museum Nova Scotia Museum (NSM) is the corporate name for the 28 museums across Nova Scotia, Canada, and is part of the province's tourism infrastructure. The organization manages more than 200 historic buildings, living history sites, vessels, and speci ...

system. It could be used to grind

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

oats The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural, unlike other cereals and pseudocereals). While oats are suitable for human con ...

, and

buckwheat Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum''), or common buckwheat, is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. The name "buckwheat" is used for several other species, such as '' Fago ...

into

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...

and

meal A meal is an eating occasion that takes place at a certain time and includes consumption of food. The names used for specific meals in English vary, depending on the speaker's culture, the time of day, or the size of the meal. Although they ca ...

.Nova Scotia Museums
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History

The mill was built in 1874 by Alexander McKay, the son of Scottish immigrants. He purchased the land for the mill for $12. He utilized a new technology for the time, the

water turbine A water turbine is a rotary machine that converts kinetic energy and potential energy of water into mechanical work. Water turbines were developed in the 19th century and were widely used for industrial power prior to electrical grids. Now, t ...

, to drive four grindstones. When Alexander died in 1886, the mill passed to his son, Hugh. Hugh sold the mill 20 years later to Alexander McLean MacDonald. MacDonald passed the mill to his son Archie in 1940. In the 1950s, the mill, facing competition from larger modern mills, shut down. In 1964, the Sunrise Trail Museum in

Tatamagouche Tatamagouche (Mi'kmaq: ''Taqamiju’jk'') is a village in Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Tatamagouche is situated on the Northumberland Strait 50 kilometres north of Truro and 50 kilometres west of Pictou. The village is located along ...

began the process of restoring the mill, hiring the former owner, Archie MacDonald to run the mill. Due to financial constraints, the mill was sold to the Nova Scotia government in 1966. The government restored the mill and added an electric motor to drive the mill stones in place of the turbine that once provided power.

References

External links

Balmoral Grist Mill Museum web page
* https://www.facebook.com/Balmoral-Grist-Mill-and-Sutherland-Steam-Mill-Museums-2123237874667446/ Mill museums in Canada Museums in Colchester County History museums in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia Museum Grinding mills in Canada {{Canada-museum-stub