CACHE: Large, easy and kid friendly cache - when placed was full of goodies. In the Polly Ann Trail easement. You can park at the end of Mill Street at the gate or get while caching, hiking or biking the rest of the Polly Ann Trail. The house at the end of Mill Street is aware of geocaching. Do not trespass at the vacant house.
HISTORY: The town of Kings Mill was formed around the businesses established by Harvey King from Detroit around 1880. He had a grist mill and a sawmill, built several houses to rent. In 1884, he built the telegraph station next to the railroad. Mr. Holm owned a grist mill that burned in 1922. He also owned the general store and ran the post office, which opened in 1883 and closed in 1934. I hear if you send mail to someone addressed with Kings Mill on it, the post office will still deliver it. The town had a blacksmith, an elevator and a boarding house. The pine timber in Arcadia township was very valuable, some of the best in the whole county it's said. Until the land was cleared of the trees, farming was delayed. Arcadia Township was the 2nd slowest township in the county to grow. The towns of Kings Mill, Lum and Arkdale on the east benefitted from the railroad coming through and they competed fiercely with the mill operators in Five Lakes and Fish Lake to the west, also linked up to industry via rail. Kings Mill has all but died out. The school is still here, today a residence on Kings Mill Road just west of Lake Pleasant. The old shanty school stood to the north of where the store is, that store is open for business today. Other than two buildings and the school, nothing much is left of Kings Mill besides a cluster of homes.
[FTF] goes to SuperK9 and [STF] goes to Syfun. Special thanks to the neighbors of this cache for their participation (non-geocachers).