Pickens County Gristmills

The present Hagood Mill was built in 1845 by James Hagood and was donated to the County of Pickens in 1973 by the James Hagood Bruce family. More than sixty Pickens County gristmill sites have been located, documented, and mapped by local historian and miller Alan Warner. In the 1960s, government regulations required farmers' corn to be tested before grinding and required preservatives and nutrients to be added, effectively shutting down the country's mills. In the 1970s, South Carolina made an exemption for water-powered gristmills to operate. In the 1990s, Warner helped restore Hagood Mill and served as miller from 1996 until 2009. The millstones here are mostly all that remains of the gristmills they came from.

South Carolina · United States