Balmoral Mills
Nova Scotia, Canada

Archie Macdonald - connecting the past to the present
In 1964 a local heritage organization took over the derelict mill and began restoration with Archie employed as miller. In 1966 when the burden was becoming too much for the local group, the Nova Scotia Government stepped in to save this important landmark.

Archie MacDonald stayed on and John Taylor apprenticed under him. John in turn taught Mark Burris, who took over as miller of Balmoral Grist Mill in 2007.

The Restoration Effort
Perhaps one of the biggest jobs in the restoration process is examining, and if needed, reworking (dressing) the grinding stone surfaces. Mark, in consultation with the Nova Scotia Museum, decided to first focus on the Scottish Oatmeal process and dress the surfaces for the most complicated of all the oats milled.

Inspection of the oatmeal grindstones revealed very little dressing was required. The sandstones were a different matter.

A set of grind stones consists of a stationery bed stone on the bottom and a runner stone on top. The bed stone had worn dangerously thin and was replaced with one acquired a number of years ago.

The following series of photos shows Mark and his team replacing the bed stone and resetting the runner stone, as well as photos taken on October 7, 2007 when we produced the first oatmeal in time for our, “Restoration Celebration”.

The truck slowly and carefully pulls the stone from storage using a specially-constructed sled.	The crib where the new bed stone will rest. The Spur wheel can be seen below.
Using rollers, the bed stone was moved up the ramp into the mill.	The mill crane was used to lower the bed stone in place.
On the day of the celebration the oats, having gone through the sand stones and husked, go into the granite stones to become...	...authentic stone ground Scottish oatmeal.

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