There are many reasons to visit Helen, whether it’s panning for gold, shopping in the Bavarian village, stopping at local wineries or hiking. But anyone who loves cooking should consider a stop at Nora Mill Granary, just east of downtown Helen on the banks of the Chattahoochee River.
The granary is housed in a four-story building, constructed in 1876 by John Martin, who came to mine for gold and decided to settle in the area, operating a gristmill before the town of Helen was established.
In the early 1900s, the building was purchased by Lamartine G. Hardman, governor of Georgia from 1927 to 1931, who named the mill in memory of his sister Nora.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
The mill eventually stopped operating and the building sat vacant, but in the 1970s Ron Fain and family members leased the building. In the 1980s, they got the old mill running again. Today, Fain’s grandson, Joe Vandegriff, and his wife, Addi, run the day-to-day operations, with the help of their children, Beckham and Weslynn.
Step into the building and you step back in time. The walls are chinked siding, with no insulation. There’s no air conditioning and no plumbing.
The main room houses the original French buhr millstones, powered by the fast-flowing Chattahoochee. The walls are lined with shelves that hold the family’s line of grits, cornmeal and mixes — including for pancakes, waffles, biscuits and bread.
One of their bestsellers is Pioneer’s Porridge, a mix of white grits, yellow grits, cracked wheat and whole rice. It’s made from a recipe created by Fain and his daughter Joann Tarpley. The most recent addition to the granary’s products is seasoned fish-fry mix.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
In addition to the original millstones, there’s an electric mill from the 1950s that can run from sunup to sundown, since it’s not dependent on water flow. A busy day might find the mill producing 1,200 to 1,400 pounds of grits.
“When we’re grinding, you can smell the corn,” Joe Vandegriff said. “You can feel the building shaking. You can see the corn being ground, and in 20 minutes it’s ready for you to purchase.”
At one time, the mill would grind anything that could be ground — wheat, buckwheat, rye, corn, it didn’t matter.
“Now, because of gluten allergies and cross-contamination issues, we only grind corn and we get our corn from a farm in southern Kentucky,” Vandegriff said.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
He said they get the flours used in their mixes “from other places across the country that share our methods of old-school milling. Many times, we have bartered grits for their wheat or rye flours. The buckwheat comes from a mill in upstate New York, whose mill predates ours by maybe 50 years.”
Two more rooms in the building house a general store, where the shelves are packed with jams, jellies, cast-iron cookware, Speckle Ware dinnerware, molasses and hard candy. Another room houses steaming slow cookers that produce grits and porridge you can sample.
“I started working in the mill while in high school, weekends and after school,” Vandegriff said. “After a few years of college, I came back to the mill.”
Then longtime miller Tommy Martin retired, and Vandegriff took on that job. “Eventually, Addi joined me and she runs the office,” he said. “With two young children, it works out well for us.”
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
The granary always has been a family affair. “Everybody in the family has run through here,” Vandegriff said. “Brothers and sisters, most of my cousins, aunts and uncles. My mom is the one who stayed with it, working with my grandfather.”
Today, he said, “We still rely on family. My son loves coming in here and talking with our customers or helping carry things to their car. ... I hope one or both of our children will continue the business, that they get as excited about being here and get as much pleasure out of it as I do.”
Nora Mill Granary. 7107 S. Main St., Helen. 706-878-2375, noramill.com
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