Forced family fun took us to the Old Oxford Mill in Oxford, Kansas. Oxford is 45 minutes south of Wichita and has a population of 1,012.
Before we left in the boys’ 1998 Camry…
We took the back roads, which included several miles of dirt roads. #LivinginKansas
Here’s a short history of the Oxford Mill. It was built in 1874 and was fed by a three mile race which was hand dug parallel to the Arkansas River. It was placed on the National Historical Register in April 1982. The mill was renovated in the late 80s and from 1990 to 2006, the Old Oxford Mill was a restaurant and gift shop.
In 2008, Oxford High School Entrepreneurship students reopened the restaurant, but for just one meal a week, on Sunday.
We were there on a Sunday, but the restaurant was closed for three weeks because of the coronavirus #covidchaos.
Behind the mill is a nature trail, so we headed there first. Ali was scared to cross the little bridge, so Zach had to carry her across.
We walked the trails and decided there must have been a flood at one point based on the way the branches, leaves and debris were piled up.
We are not sure if this is a trail sign…?
We found an old rickety bridge that said “KEEP OFF BRIDGE.” Oops. I think they meant vehicles…
Back to exploring the mill…
Zach contributing to the nature loom…
An old mill turbine. Or at least we think it’s something like that…
Across the street from the mill were abandoned houses – which looked like they could be in a horror movie.
And this old truck…
After, we drove to Cave Park to see what was there. Not much, although we did read about the Avery Steam Engine restoration project (read more about that here).
One Kansas Girl 