Only a few decades past and for hundreds of years before then, water-powered grist, or grain, mills were in operation along river and creek corridors near town settlements across the nation. These mills served small farming communities that “grew up around churches, schools, lodges, gristmills and stores” (Kelly A. Lally 1990). From earliest settlement, millponds provided opportunities for socialization, recreation, and business.
By the 1870s, Wake County had some 70 gristmills producing wheat into flour and corn into meal. Among them was Myatt’s Mill on Panther Lake, in Middle Creek Township (Willow Spring), located about six miles west of the small towns of Fuquay Springs and Varina. Its waterpower was provided by Black Creek. Though heavily altered (the building is thought to have been expanded at least three times with shed additions on the north and west sides), Myatt’s Mill is one of only two of these gristmills that are still standing in Wake County.
The other mill site is the National Register of Historic Places-listed Yates Mill, which was constructed by Samuel Pearson on Steephill Creek in the 1750s (Swift Creek Township). “Since the 19th century, Pearson’s millhouse and pond have been known as Yates Mill—today one of the county’s most highly prized historic sites.” (K. Todd Johnson, 2009). Yates Mill has been restored to working order and is the centerpiece of a 174-acre park in south-central Raleigh, on land that has been owned by NC State University since 1963. Park visitors can take guided tours to see the water mill in operation and purchase stone-ground cornmeal produced on-site.
References to the earliest Myatt—John R. Myatt (or Miot), Sr.—appeared in Wake County in 1790 and his descendants can be found on census records throughout the nineteenth century. Born in 1726, he was from Horton Valley, Staffordshire, England. His son Mark Myatt was born about 1754. Mark Myatt built his residence north of the Myatt’s Mill site on SR 1006 around 1810. The house was used as a traveler’s rest along the “old stage road” connecting the cities of Raleigh and Fayetteville (Elizabeth R. Murray, 1983). This dwelling was razed in the 1980s.
A Myatt land deed from 1834 specifically mentioned the “mill branch” and Black Creek, and another from 1843 noted that a gristmill and sawmill were on the site. Myatt Mill was likely a well-established community gristmill by the 1870s, based on its inclusion on Fendol Bevers’ 1871 survey map of Wake County. An unnamed body of water corresponding with Panther Lake and “Myatt’s Mill” are shown on the map, as is a second lake and mill site immediately west of Panther Lake. This second lake and “Partin’s Mill” no longer exist. The 1880 census listed 61 members of the Myatt family living in southern Wake County.
“By the early twentieth century, the Myatt’s were beginning to lose their grip on their historical land holdings in Panther Branch and Middle Creek Townships. A series of early twentieth century real estate transactions documents the reduction of Myatt family-owned acreage from over 2,000 discontinuous acres in the vicinity of Panther Lake in 1900, to none by 1928, and the subsequent conversion of the former Myatt acreage from agricultural to recreational use.” (NC Department of Cultural Resources, 2019, WBS #38455.1.2)
In 1902, Amelia Myatt (widow of William A. Myatt) leased the family home and mill to her son Alfred R. Myatt (Wake County Register of Deeds 1902:BK173:189). The deed details the parcel as approximately one acre including: “the dwelling house known as the Myatt home together with the yard and garden enclosed about the same, the cotton house and the front yard in which the well is situated extending to the main road, the smoke house and small field on the west side of said dwelling house, containing about one acre, and also the said mill, mill-yard, mill pond, mill house, gin, saw mill and one acre of land to be selected by my son adjoining the mill house.” Alfred Myatt was to pay his mother one dollar per year for the rest of her natural life.
A few months later, in May 1903, Alfred R. Myatt and his wife “Nannie” leased the fishing rights to Panther Lake to the Panther Branch Fishing Club, Inc. as well as “use of the Miller’s house, stables, blacksmith shop and one-acre of land adjacent to the house,” (Wake County Register of Deeds 1902:BK177:284). The Myatts retained use of the lake’s water for “grinding purposes,” suggesting that the gristmill was still in operation. The lease term ran for seven years and was renewable. The club was permitted to erect structures on the site, although local oral tradition suggests the “miller’s house” was used as a clubhouse and rustic lodging for overnight guests.
In 1917, another Myatt family member, William A. Myatt, and his wife, Columbia, sold 1,040 acres of land on the east side of the lake, excluding one acre containing the Myatt graveyard and its access road and another acre containing the “Club Building in front of the Mill House,” to George W. and Mollie Howard (Wake County Register of Deeds 1918:BK327:5). Within a few months, the Howards had subdivided the former Myatt farm into 13 parcels of around 50 acres each and contracted with the Atlantic Coast Realty Company of Greenville, North Carolina, to auction the land (Wake County Register of Deeds 1918:BK325:198; Atlantic Coast Realty Company 1918).
According to the 2019 report by the NC Department of Cultural Resources, by 1922, the Panther Branch Fishing Club was using 150 acres near Panther Lake as debt collateral to a local bank. In July 1928, the club purchased an additional 170 acres of land around the lake from A. Myatt Smith. This 170-acre parcel included the mill building and fixtures and the “one-acre of land on the east side of Willow Springs Road (now SR 2748/Panther Lake Road) now occupied by the Panther Lake Fishing Club,” (Wake County Register of Deeds 1928:BK393:314).
Sometime after 1928, the club defaulted on the bank note and 48 acres around the lake were sold at auction in 1934 to satisfy the debt (Wake County Register of Deeds 1934:BK668:331). The Depression and the default may have precipitated the club’s reorganization; after 1934, the group is referred to as the Panther Branch Club, Inc. on all deed references. The club continued to be plagued by financial issues, losing a court action that resulted in the club entering receivership and its lands being sold at public auction in 1943.
T.F. “Floyd” Adams and J. R. Woodward acquired the club tract at auction for $14,000. It was Adams and his wife, Pauline, who expanded the recreational facilities at Panther Lake in the 1940s and early 1950s. The Adamses erected the store building to sell gas, refreshments, and fishing supplies to day-trippers and built the cabins and duplexes south of the lake to accommodate overnight guests.
Local resident James L. Champion worked as a young man with Adams laying the concrete masonry units of the rental houses and store. Adams continued to use the name Panther Branch Club for the destination, which was well known locally. Adams also acquired the mill building and used it as the club office where fishing passes could be purchased and boats rented. Milling continued in a minimal capacity until around 1960 (from the NC Department of Cultural Resources 2019 report, including Personal Communication from Rachel Monday 2012 and James Champion 2012).
The Adamses befriended a local young couple, R.H. and Rachel Y. Monday, after R.H. returned from service in World War II. R.H. Monday worked for Adams in another convenience store he owned in Panther Branch Township, the Mount Pleasant Food Center. In 1953, Adams sold the store at Panther Lake to the Mondays, who operated the store and charged admission for aquatic activities at the lake, such as swimming, fishing, and waterskiing, until the 1990s.
After her husband’s death in the 1970s, Pauline Adams sold the mill and rental units to Denver Hardman of Raleigh (Wake County Register of Deeds 1979:BK 2781:17). Luther and Diane Forsythe bought the site in 1986 and later, in 1996, sold the parcel containing the old gristmill to Scott Champion, who had grown up across the street from the mill. Mr. Champion said that he was always interested in the mill and the lake. “I told myself one day I will buy the mill so I can go inside any time I wanted.” Once he did acquire it, he modernized the interior and used the building site for his building and towing companies for over two decades.
Mr. Champion listed the mill site for sale in 2019 and really wanted to see it go to someone who would save the mill, which has historical value to the community. On March 30, 2019, Scott Champion wrote this on the Historic Myatt Mill Facebook page: “The historical value of this property is coming to light. It has been forgotten by many until recent events. The structure of the building has been protected from the elements with modern siding. When Myatt Mill was built, it was actually in Johnston County. It was a community called Myatt’s Mills. Stagecoaches stopped and got their supplies at Myatt Mill. It is a journey through time.”
On April 18, 2020, Mr. Champion wrote: “I have had so many wonderful experiences there. I lived there then and started my building company. I got married to my beautiful bride on May 30, 1999. We had our first kiss in front of the heater on a cold January night. I have had many business ventures at Myatt Mill from building homes to Champion Towing and many others. Myatt Mill has been a blessing for me and I really want others to enjoy it as I have. That is why I am selling it.”
Arpan and Sindu Makam purchased the mill and 0.59 acres of land from Scott Champion in July 2022. Myatt’s Mill remains yet unrestored, but Mr. Makam hopes to bring it back to its former glory and has plans for it to serve as a family lake house, Airbnb, and rental facility. He would love to see “water flowing again under the mill.” (Unfortunately, his property purchase does not include water rights to the lake which is owned by the Stephenson family, but perhaps something will be worked out between the owners in the years to come.)
Mr. Makam, who was born in India (as was his wife) and grew up in England, came to the U.S. in 1994 when he was ten years old. He moved to NC in 2003 to study agricultural business management at NC State University and works as a broker, in addition to owning a few farms that grow boutique vegetables and flowers. Mr. Makam’s family had a birthday celebration at the mill site on July 18; he said they “took a boat out on the lake and jumped in—it was awesome!” They are grateful to have the opportunity to now become the stewards of the Myatt’s Mill site and are looking forward to investing time, effort, resources and love into what really is a unique local place.
As Scott Champion wrote on Facebook on June 2 of this year: “This view never gets old. Myatt Mill is a magical place where there is always a breeze and a peaceful feeling.”
