Woods Mill

The census of 1880 lists Haston Woods as a miller.  He was the miller at Nash's Mill on Raybon Creek in Greenville County, SC.

His son Grover Woods established his corn mill and blacksmith shop on Woods Mill Road, now Chapman Road, in Greenville County, SC in 1921.  The family continues the tradition of stone ground grits and corn meal.

The corn is slowly ground on granite stones, which date back to 1921, to prevent heating of the meal which preserves the fresh corn flavor.  Our grits and corn meal are whole grain products.  We do not degerm the ground corn (remove the heart of the corn-kernel - which contains the nutrients and flavor).  Whole grain products are more perishable than degerminated commercial corn products.

Old Shaker Brooms

There is more folklore than documented fact about brooms in this country.  We do know there were brooms made from broomcorn in South Carolina during the 1600's. 

Broomcorn is actually a member of the sorghum family, not corn.  Seed from broomcorn was brought from Africa and was grown anywhere corn would grow. Growing of broomcorn moved to the Midwest until the 1940's and since has moved back to Mexico.

We learned the craft of broom making from a broom squire at the Shaker Village in Pleasant Hill, Kentucky.  Our brooms are all hand made using equipment from the 1800's, made exactly as the Shakers made them. 

The highest quality broomcorn is used for the broom and hemp cord is used to stitch the brooms.  Local blacksmiths also made the needles used to stitch the brooms.

Remember:  Always hang a broom from the loop of hemp!!