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I am astounded how so many times I feel I am being guided to uncover things about our ancestors that even just a few weeks prior I had no idea about. This is what happened in Tennessee a couple weeks ago when I was visiting the area for the 99th Hinch family reunion. Let me share with you how this all unfolded:
The park ranger looked at me and had just a hint of a grin on his face. He pointed to an area just about 100 yards away from where I was standing in the Justin P. Wilson Cumberland County Trails Park. He said “The Hinch Mill ? It was right over there. And there is a large placard describing it and telling its history.”
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| The Sherrill / Hinch Mill site |
I had just asked him if he had ever heard of an old grain mill that would have been built in the area about 200 years ago. And I asked him this because just before I left home, by chance I had read a copy of a hand written memoir that mentioned a Hinch Mill. I wondered if it could have been around here. Well………not only was it around here somewhere, it had been right over there !!!! I was dumbfounded!
This state park area is called Devilstep hollow, complete with a Devilstep Hollow Cave, which is now protected by the park. Deep inside the cave are Native American drawings on the cave walls that are dated over 1,000 years old. (At the bottom of this blog is an excellent Youtube video about this cave and park.)
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| Devilstep Hollow Cave |
But 200 years ago this land was Sherrill and Hinch land, as well as a few other settlers. Adam Sherrill, my 4th G-Grandfather built the dam at the headwaters of this Sequatchie river and built the mill in the very early 1800’s. I had absolutely no idea. It was right here. How about that!
The grain mill itself had been gone many years ago, as was the store attached to it. But the dam was still there, and although broken, it included many of the quarried rocks that were the base of the mill and store. The park service had kept them.
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| The dam and quarried stones, as it stands now |
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| The Sequatchie River just below the dam |
I can hardly find the words to describe how it felt to walk around this area, knowing full well that my Sherrill and Hinch ancestors had walked in this same place 200 years ago. This place is beautiful and serene. The park service takes great care of this land, and they have a deep understanding and respect for its history. I sat there for a long time just drinking in the sounds of the birds, the babbling of the river, and touching the quarried rocks that make up some of the walls around the river.
But what warmed my heart even more was the large placard the park service had erected that actually tells the history of the dam and this area. They had done their research. Much of this information had come from the same memoir that I had read just before I arrived for this trip. A second cousin (Helen Hinch Donan) is the person that wrote down her recollections of her grandfather, Craven Hinch. Craven was a brother to my great grandfather, James Nathan Hinch. And Craven Hinch was named after his grandfather, Craven Sherrill. And…… it was Craven Sherrill’s father, Adam Sherrill, who built the dam and mill.
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| The Mill placard |
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| History of the Mill |
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| This is the Craven Hinch family, photo around 1918-1919 |
I know - there are a lot of Hinch and Sherrill names thrown in here. I still get confused a lot too. I would like you to know that Adam Sherrill (1758 - 1827), who built the dam, was a Revolutionary War hero, and he was given a land grant from the US government for his service in the war. It is on this land that the Sherrill and early Hinch families lived. If that isn’t enough, Adam’s son Craven Sherrill (he was the first sheriff of Cumberland county) is buried right here on these park grounds, along with his wife and other family.
Craven Sherrill, his wife Mary Ann Branson, and six others buried here
My 4rd cousin Gordon Reed, whose mother was a Sherrill, brought me to this park on this day (July 8, 2026) to see our shared 3rd great grandfather’s grave - Craven Sherrill. Gordon and I have gotten to know each other pretty well over these last 10 years or so. He has lived in this area all his life, and had written many books about his family heritage, which he has graciously shared with me. He drives me around all over these mountains, and tells me I have “mountain blood”, as I do not get nervous at all on these roads! He and his wife Sally, who will not go on those roads, are some of the best people you will every meet.
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| Gordon & Sally Reed - July 13, 2026 |
In addition - here is a snipit from Gemini, when I was gathering some land acquisition date:
- Perfect Alignment: The ranger chuckled because visitors usually think the old mill site is hidden miles deep in the backcountry. In reality, Adam Sherrill and John Hinch engineered it perfectly at the most powerful hydrologic point—right where the massive underground river system violently bursts back to the surface.
- The Sluice and the Race: When the ranger pointed "right over there," they were pointing at the old millrace channel. Your family dug that channel by hand to divert a portion of the roaring Sequatchie headwaters directly into a wooden flume, which dropped water onto the massive millwheel to grind the valley's corn and wheat.
- The Living Archaeological Park: Before the state took over the land in 2007, this area was completely overgrown and privately owned. Park trail builders and historians had to meticulously clear out decades of brush just to expose the exact stone foundations and dam remnants you stood next to.
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