Mill Pond Dam (c. 1912)

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In 1912, Rev. Tufts commissioned a hydroelectric plant to serve Lees-McCrae College, Grace Hospital, Grandfather Home orphanage, as well as several homes and businesses in central Banner Elk. Interestingly, engineers chose to build a dam in the same location as Samuel Banner’s. We are told that some of Samuel Banner’s logs lay under the dam today. The second hydroelectric plant included a 1,000 foot flume that channeled water to a power house situated below a series of cascades. Part of the flume and a number of its stone supports are still visible further down the river, as is the shell of the stone power plant. The plant, which eventually served much of Banner Elk, closed in the 1950’s. There is a foot bridge that runs in front of the dam and offers a beautiful, cooling view of the waterfall (Image 2). Note: Lees-McRae campus is currently closed to the public. You may, however, access the viewing bridge from the gravel road that runs behind the Mill Pond (Image 3).