Products and Contacts
How To Contact Us
To schedule a visit either email me at jdellinger0601@gmail.com ( preferred method ) , call at cellphone 404-431-3999 ( anywhere ), 828-688-1009 or just come by on open days. For group tours please email or call in advance.
Products
Cornmeal, grits and polenta are available, ground from the finest mountain grown corn, approved by the USDA and the North Carolina Dept. of Agriculture. Store bought products pale in comparison to these products, where you can watch corn feed between giant millstones turned by a waterwheel bought by my great grandfather Reuben in 1859 to produce these fresh ( nothing added ) into cornmeal, grits or polenta . Today I use the same equipment and techniques used by my ancestors and taught to me by my daddy Marve.
A Brief Bio
I grew up on a 94 acre mountain farm located around the Mill on Cane Creek, where we grew almost everything we ate and bought only things we could not grow at a store at Hawk. Daddy and Mama taught me and my 6 siblings everything we needed to operate a farm and mill utilizing 19th century methods.
When I was 17 years old I graduated high school in Bakersville and joined the US Air Force just in time for the Korean War. After 4 years in the USAF I used the GI Bill of Rights to obtain an electrical engineering degree from NC State University. Along came IBM and hired me as a software engineer. I was one of the people sent to Huntsville AL. to work on a contract from NASA, under direction of Dr. Werhner Von Braun. We built the onboard computer and designed and developed the software for the IBM computer aboard the Saturn V rocket to send Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and others to the moon. I along with other IBMers, designed, and wrote the software for the onboard computer and tested and tested over and over. As with any interrupt driven, real time computer, we could never be sure all paths were completely "bug free" and we all "sweated bullets" from launch until our computer gave the three astronauts that final kickoff out of earth orbit to the moon. I had truly entered the 20th century when on July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. After several other projects at IBM, with 38 years of computers I decided to retire.
I still had 47 acres of the old home place. But the old mill had not operated since daddy died in 1955. After 3 years ( 1997-2000 ) and a ton of money it operates today using the same machinery as in 1867 and I am happily back in the 19th century.
Price List
Cornmeal $10.00
Grits $10.00
Polenta $10.00
Shirts $30.00
High Quality Hats $30.00
Books written by Jack Dellinger $15.00
Note cards by renown artist Rolf Holmquist $25.00
Mica from Hawk N C mine $2.00
Tours Free (contributions are welcome)
All products are available at the Mill, the Orchard at Altapass, at Young's Fuel Service in Bakersville, and The Market on Oak Street in Spruce Pine.
and at Helen's Restaurant in Bakersville.
I wrote and published my book in 2004-2005, "Dellinger Grist Mill on Cane Creek" ( cover on website home page ) and it is a history of the mill, my family, and the surrounding area. It contains some rare old photographs of what Cane Creek looked like in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
The DVD's were created by Alex Suarez, videographer, about an hour long, of a tour I gave in October,2007, showing and recording the history of the mill, detailed operation, and how it grinds corn as it did in 1867,1901, and 1955.
Join me for a tour of the Mill, as I tell about its history, the history of the surrounding area, how the mill works and we will actually grind some corn. Jack Dellinger, miller, author, software engineer and "rocket scientist".
This video was created by Lisa Pepin, a senior in the school of Photojournalism at UNC-CH, who shadowed me at the Mill in May, 2010 for three full days and reduced it all to about two minutes. It really captured what this Grist Mill is all about.
http://carolinaphotojournalism.org/cpjw/grist-for-the-mill
This video was produced by the Tar Heel Traveler Scott Mason who works for WRAL-TV Raleigh, NC
Scott and his photographer visited in 2008
http://www.wral.com/lifestyles/travel/video/5617196/#/vid1076424
This video was produced by Bryan Mims for the NC PBS show "NC Weekends" in August 2013
http://video.unctv.org/video/2365066475
Here is a video of Eddie Graham ( Drummer, percussionist for Elvis Presley and many others ) playing a tune on the 150 year old waterwheel...with the "Dellinger Gang" August 27, 2013. at the 5th Dellinger Grist Mill Music Festival. Video courtesy of Brannon Young.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwv61d_ZV8Q