DALTON, Ga. — Whitfield County residents know well Prater’s Mill, the historic grist mill built in 1855 next to Coahulla Creek near what is now Varnell.

But they may not be aware that northwest Georgia and southeast Tennessee are home to a number of other historic grist mills, including the Dennis Mill in Murray County, the Old Mill at Berry College in Floyd County and the Yarborough Grist Mill in Gordon County.

“There are a number of old mills within a relatively short driving distance of Dalton,” said Charles Yeske, president of the Society for the Preservation of Old Mills (SPOOM). “That’s why when the (Prater’s Mill Foundation) offered to host our annual meeting this year, we were very glad to accept.”

SPOOM is a nationwide organization founded in 1972 to promote interest in and help preserve the nation’s old mills. About 100 people are expected for the conference June 6-8.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Milling Around Old Cherokee Georgia.”

“The Cherokee brought water-milling technology to this area,” said Judy Alderman, one of the founders of the annual Prater’s Mill Country Fair. “Even though there are no Cherokee mills standing there’s still a lot of Cherokee history in this area.”

In addition to old mills, the SPOOM conference will include visits to the New Echota Historic site near Calhoun, the Chief Vann House near Chatsworth and the Chieftains Museum and Major Ridge Home in Rome, among other sites. New Echota was the capital of the Cherokee Nation. The Vann House was first built in 1804 by Cherokee Chief James Vann, said to be the wealthiest man in the Cherokee Nation, in the center of his thousand-acre plantation. The Chieftains Museum was the home of Major Ridge, another wealthy Cherokee. Ridge, Vann and Charles Hicks formed the “Cherokee triumvirate,” which dominated Cherokee politics for many years.

The conference will also include a tour of the Red Clay State Historic Park in Bradley County, Tennessee. That park includes the main bearing and a millstone fragment from the Brainerd Mission Mill which was in what is now Chattanooga, according to organizers.

The conference is open to the public. The registration fee for non-SPOOM members is $260, and registration is open until a week before the conference begins. For more information, call the Prater’s Mill Foundation at (706) 694-6455 or email melanie@pratersmill.org.