The Glade Creek Grist Mill at Babcock is a new mill that was completed in 1976. Fully operable, this mill was built as a re-creation of a previous one that once ground grain on Glade Creek long before Babcock became a state park. Known as Cooper’s Mill, it stood on the present location of the park’s administration building parking lot. The mill was created by combining parts and pieces from three mills which once dotted the state. The basic structure of the mill came from the Stoney Creek Grist Mill which dates back to 1890. The overshot water wheel came from Spring Run Grist Mill near Petersburg, Grant County, after that mill was destroyed by fire. The wheel was the only part of the mill the could be salvaged. Other parts for the mill came from the Onego Grist Mill near Seneca Rocks in Pendleton County. A living monument to the over 500 mills which thrived in West Virginia at the turn of the century, the Glade Creek Grist Mill provides freshly ground cornmeal, which park guests may purchase depending on availability and stream conditions. (wvstateparks.com/park/Babcock-state-park)
During the Great Depression, CCC camps made up what is now Babcock State Park. The park’s campground sits on the site of the former Camp Lee.