Southern Forest Heritage Museum Historic Sawmill

Long Leaf Sawmill

The sawmill of the Long Leaf Mill is one of the oldest complete sawmills in the nation. The building was constructed in 1910 for the Crowell & Spencer Lumber Company (1898-1941), remodeled in 1917 and 1936 by the Crowell Long Leaf Lumber Company (1941-1955), and renovated in the mid-1950s . By February 1969, the last logs were cut on the long side for the Crowell Lumber Industries (1955-1969). This would be the last time any lumber passed through the sawmill at the Long Leaf Mill. The mill was closed officially in June that year due to saw timber being unavailable.

In the sawmill is all the standard operating equipment needed to convert logs into lumber. It is here where workers were trained to operate the latest in mill industrial equipment. Lumber came out to the green chain where it was sorted by grade and size and then moved to the dry kiln or stored in the open. From there, it was moved to the planer mill for conversion into marketable lumber.

Find out more about the Sawmill in this video done by volunteers!

Southern Forest Heritage Museum Sawmill
Southern Forest Heritage Museum Sawmill
Southern Forest Heritage Museum Sawmill
Southern Forest Heritage Museum Sawmill
Southern Forest Heritage Museum Sawmill
Southern Forest Heritage Museum Sawmill