Serendipity

Sometimes you find what you are looking for in the most unexpected places.

We happened to be visiting Raphine, Virginia last weekend and Stopped into a small kitchen shop that is part of a working grist mill called Wade’s Mill, (more about their history later).

For such a small space they have a lot of different culinary items, but the most interesting was this pewter spoon. The spoon was cast by Lee Sauder of Germinal Ironworks in Lexington, Virginia.

In Mr. Sauder’s own words the story is… In the 1940’s his grandfather found a bronze spoon mould under the floor of an abandoned building he was demolishing in Accomack County, Virginia. The mould dates from between 1690 and 1710. This spoon was cast directly in the 300-year-old mould. In the finishing process, Mr. Sauder refrained from removing some of the marks and imperfections from that mould, to retain its history and character.

We know from research that spoons were important eating utensils because forks were not yet in vogue, but I never thought I would find an actual replica of a period spoon – never mind one from our limited time period!

And now, as promised, the history of Wade’s Mill:
Historic Wade's Mill
Wade's Mill is a working flour mill, c. 1750, built by Captain Joseph Kennedy. Captain Kennedy was a Scotsman who was one of the earlier settlers in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. He settled in the area between Staunton and Lexington Virginia. This was the frontier of the United States between 1740 and 1770. The Kennedy family owned the flour mill in the Shenandoah Valley for about 100 years.

In 1882, James F. Wade bought the flour mill and his family operated it for the next four generations. The interior and workings of the flour mill are much like they were when Mr. Wade bought it.

The mill is powered by a 21-foot water wheel that is fed by a nearby stream (known originally as Captain Joseph Kennedy's Mill Creek). Wade's Mill is one of the few remaining flour mills that still produce a wide variety of flours exclusively on mill stones. The Shenandoah Valley flour mill is on the National Register of Historic Places.