Originally built along Lost Creek in Union County by James Rice after he migrated from North Carolina to Sharp’s Station in 1790, this grist mill was completed by “Uncle Jim” and his sons in the autumn of 1798 as a two-story log structure with a wood shake roof. Its wooden water wheel used an overshot design, with water channeled to the top and poured over the wheel to turn it, while its internal gears were carved from hickory and its main shaft was believed to have been hewn from a yellow poplar tree. The original mill stones were said to have been imported from France and used as ballast on their voyage. Over time the mill was also rigged to power a sawmill, a cotton gin, a trip hammer, and a dynamo that supplied electric lights for the mill and Rice home in 1899. A severe storm in 1874 damaged the original millhouse and wooden mechanisms, and in 1879 a two-story frame millhouse was built with cogwheels carved from choice hickory and a main shaft again made from yellow poplar. During the 1890s the shaft was replaced with one made from a white oak tree, which lasted fifty years before TVA replaced it with one of steel. Four generations of the Rice family operated the mill, beginning with James “Uncle Jim” Rice from 1798 until his death in 1829, followed by his eldest son George until 1868, then George’s eldest son Henry, who in 1888 gave it to his eldest son, Rufus “Uncle Rufe” Rice. “Uncle Rufe” operated the mill until 1935, when TVA purchased the family’s land for flooding upon completion of Norris Dam, after which the Rices relocated to a farm in Blount County, Tennessee. The Civilian Conservation Crops and National Park Service labeled each piece of the wooden mechanism, disassembled the mill, and reassembled much of the structure at its present site, and TVA donated the mill and adjoining land to the Tennessee Department of Conservation in 1953.