The Old Mill at T.R. Pugh Memorial Park

  The Old Mill was built in 1933 as the centerpiece of a tiny park in the planned community of Lakewood, North Little Rock which features six lakes, rolling wooded hills, and ranch style houses. Frank Carmean built the mill and Dionico Rodriguez made all of the concrete bridges, seating, and mill details using his secret techniques to make them look as if they are wood, iron or stone.  This is the same Dionico Rodreguez who built the Crystal Shrine Grotto in Memphis.

        

   The park and mill are very picturesque and are a popular backdrop for photoshoots and weddings ceremonies. Weekends may be very busy. The setting has a bit of Hollywood stardom- a four second clip of mill, along with other Old South images, is used in the opening sequences of “Gone With the Wind”.

  The mill can be viewed from several locations but the bridges, the trails, and the mill are not accessible. The neighborhood is pleasant and quiet so we walked/rolled along the side of the road and peeked at some of the lake wildlife.

  Parking is along the north side of the street.  RVs will fit but due to the narrow streets it’s best to approach the mill from the east because there isn’t room to turn around.  Mill  34.7911, -92.24921