• Campground Type: Private
• Campsite Type: RV
• Price Range: $20 - $30
• Cleanliness: Excellent
• Campground Facilities: Very Good
• Recreational Facilities: Very Good
• Campsite Satisfaction: Very Good
• Family Friendliness: Very Good
• Service: Very Good

The water mill was built on the site around 1790 by a Dr. Hunnelly. During the 19th century, many water mills operated in the hills and hollows of Kemper County, Miss. By the mid-1950s, only Sciple’s Mill was left. The mill was purchased by the Sciple family between 1830 and 1850. Since that time, there have been seven generations of Sciples working the mill.

For all but three months between 1973 and 1974, after a tornado virtually destroyed the mill building on November 26, 1973, the mill was in continuous operation from the time it was built. After the tornado, the mill was rebuilt on the original floor and foundation using as much of the original lumber and materials as could be salvaged from the tornado.

At one time in the mid-1950s, the water mill also grinned cotton at an output of 25 to 30 bales per day and sawed lumber at 10,000 board-feet per day. The mill is powered by a Leffel Water Turbine Wheel, which develops 250 to 300 horsepower. From 1790 until 1880, the turbine was made of wood but was capable of less horsepower. The clear, cold water for the mill comes from springs running out of the hills upstream. Inside the old mill building is a virtual museum of the 19th century. Tools and implements of every kind hang from the ceiling and the walls.

The mill is open 8am to 3pm weekdays, except during deer hunting season. There is no fee. On weekends, visitors can tour the grounds only. Corn meal, grits, fish-fry seasoning, and other products are for sale to the public. There is a cabinet for after-hours sales, and the cost of the product is placed in an honor box.

Sciple’s Mill is located 10 miles northwest of Dekalb, Miss. Take State Hwy. 39 North from Dekalb 3.5 miles to Kellis Store Rd. Turn left at the "Sciple’s Mill" sign and travel 7 miles to Sciple’s Mill Rd. Turn right at the "Sciple’s Mill" sign onto an unpaved road. The mill is located on Running Tiger Creek one-half mile after you turn off Kellis Store Rd.

Our first journey to check out a portion of this natural beauty was a side trip off I20-I59 up Hwy 17 North to Aliceville, AL. The road is straight and wide. From Aliceville, we took Hwy 14 West to Pickensville. There we stopped at the Tom Bevill Visitor Center. This is not your ordinary visitor center.

The Visitor Center portrays an 1830-1860 Greek Revival home that was similar to other homes built in the Tombigbee River Valley in those days.

While inside the center, you can learn all about the waterway, the history of the area, and the use of the waterway. There are all kinds of displays, models, exhibits, and audiovisual programs to take you from pre-history to the modern waterway. There are fossils of earlier animal life and artifacts from early pioneer days, plus you can pick up information on the boom towns and ghost towns along the river. As you tour the rooms, climb the grand staircase up to the rooftop cupola. Cupolas on these mansions often served as observatories and also added ventilation by allowing air to escape from the open windows on lower floors.

Behind the house, you get your first look at the Tom Bevill Lock and Dam. Maybe catch the commercial or recreational vessels as they enter the lock during their travels between the Gulf of Mexico and river ports of Middle America. While outside, check out the U.S. Snagboat Montgomery, a national historic landmark. It’s one of the last steam-powered sternwheelers to still ply the rivers of the south. The 180-foot vessel would remove submerged stumps and fallen trees from the inland waterways of the South for most of this century. The Montgomery can be toured from its pilothouse to the engine room.

After all this, located near the Visitors Center are camping, playgrounds, fishing areas, boat ramps, and a nice picnic area. They are all accessible, like the Visitors Center, to the disabled.

Hours: Open in winter 8am to 4pm and summer 9am to 5pm. It is located one half-mile south of the intersection of Alabama State Highways 14 and 86, 28 miles south of Columbus, Mississippi, 10 miles north of Aliceville, Alabama and 52 miles west of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. From the KOA in Toomsuba, Mississippi, I’d say it was approximately 50 miles.

For information on the Tenn-Tom Waterway, you can call 662/327-2142 or log on to Tenn-Tom's website.

A wooden three-story building by the top of the bluff was completed in 1860. Unfortunately, by the time the machinery arrived for the mill, the Civil War had also arrived. John’s dream of setting up machinery in the mill was soon confiscated by the Confederate government. The government took over the machinery and the building, allowing John to supervise the manufacturing of blankets, hats, and knives for the rebel army. Additions where also made to add a distillery, a blacksmith shop, and machine for carding wool to clothe the soldiers.

When the war was finally over, Dunn’s Falls began making flour, corn meal, hats, and money. When it wasn’t used for making the above, it became a fine dance floor for all the neighbors to gather and enjoy each other’s company high atop the bluffs.

Over the years, John Dunn disappeared, no one seems to know what became of him. The mill changed hands several times. The last thing to be made in it was meal before the mill vanished into the Chunky River.

Today an authentic 1857 grist mill and waterwheel that was relocated from Cave Springs, Georgia, recreates the workings of John Dunn’s mill. Enter into the mill for a look at the machinery and the building to get a glimpse of how things use to be. Follow down the stone steps to the edge of the Chunky River, and follow the path deep into the forest. Enjoy the sound of the flowing river and the chirping of the birds. Then follow the wagon road back up, across the top of the bluffs to where you started.

Picnic and enjoy a little fishing in the old mill pond at the entrance. There’s even a roped-off area for swimming, plus a nice playground for the youngsters.

The water park is open all year from 9am to 5pm. There is an admission of $1.25 per person (two and above) to view the mill and a full day’s use of the park facilities.

The 69-acre park offers primitive camping, fishing, swimming, picnicking, hiking, and history.

The original store that sits next to the 1895 building was built in 1869 as a trading post for the settlers and Choctaw Indians. In the original building, the gristmill is still in operation, grinding corn into cornmeal. The mix for the cornmeal is an old variety of Indian white milling corn and popcorn.

When the 1895 store was built, it also held the medical office of Dr. Billy Anderson, a country doctor. Not only did he have a medical practice, but he was also the first postmaster.

Many of the original fixtures are still in place. Upon entering the front door, you get to check out the 1890s street-vendor peanut roaster that was restored and is used daily. As you move to the back of the store, they have a wonderful player-piano collection of the late owner Leslie Hagwood. All are one of a kind. There is a silent-movie nickelodeon that came from the Grand Opera House in Meridian. It was purchased in the 1960s and had more than $65,000 put into its restoration and preservation. Prior to Mr. Hagwood's death, he offered it to the Riley Foundation, who purchased it and placed it in the opera house in Meridian after the building was restored. There is also a barroom piano known as the Egyptian, built by Wurlitzer in 1912. It features stained glass and a hand-carved cabinet. There were only two Egyptians built, and one was burned in the Cliff House Hotel in San Francisco in 1936. The other pianos on display include a home-model player with a built-in turntable and a Reproduco, which is a piano and pipe-organ combination.

Some of the other interesting things you can check out are a 1947 television set (the first of the mirror-image type), a 1936 Stromberg-Carlson floor model radio that still operates, and toys from the 1930s through 1990s.

Behind the deli case you’ll find the cheese cutter used to slice the red-rind hoop cheese that has been made in the same area since 1898. The display cases are original, from the store buildings or other old stores in Mississippi. Back in the 1920s, there was a marble backbar and soda fountain.

The store has been seen in commercials and photo setups. It found itself featured in television specials about the gristmill. A national New York show, "Collectible FX," did a live show from the store. The store is featured in several travel books, with the Associated Press and some travel magazines having featured it as a glimpse of the past store.

Hours of operation are 6am to 7pm Monday through Saturday and 8am to 5pm Sunday.

Directions to the store from I20-I59, Meridian, MS: Take Hwy 19 south approximately 7 miles, watch for state highway sign for right turn to Causeyville, follow signs for about 5 miles.