"Working Places / Places that Work"

8th Annual Preservation Week 2006 Photo-Essay Competition

Title:  Newsom’s Old Mill Store

Newsom’s Old Mill Store is one of the few country stores still in operation. It has been in business for a long time and has been owned by a member of the Newsom family since 1917.  It is now located on 208 East Main St.

Newsom’s is in fairly good shape except for a few spots that are bad.  When you walk in Newsom’s now, you will probably notice that it smells like plants, seeds, and all sorts of food combined.  On the outside it is tan with a red sign with Newsom’s on it.  On the 2nd and 3rd floors is old mill equipment that used by all the factory workers to make flour and woolen material.

Newsom’s is a great place because it has been used for many things over the years and is one of the oldest buildings in Princeton.  It has been a landmark for a long time.

Newsom’s was built and paid for during the industrial revolution around 1850, by a man with the last name of Myers.  The building was built to be a woolen mill.  During this time, it had machines in it that could turn wool into material that could be used for making clothing.  Some of the clothing may have been used for soldiers’ uniforms.  After this, it became a flourmill.  At this mill, they made 100 barrels of flour a day and worked for 24 hours a day.

Today Newsom’s is a country store.  They sell everything from grass and garden seeds, vegetables, and even gift baskets from time to time.  Ham is Newsom’s main business.  The way Newsom’s cures their ham is becoming a lost art.  They smoke it over hickory wood and then hang it to go through an aging progress.  They get orders from all over the world for their hams.

When I am older, I look forward to going in Newsom’s and going upstairs to the museum that it could become.  In this museum people will be able to look at all of the old mill equipment.  When I walk in Newsom’s now, I feel like I’m going back in time.  Newsom’s is starting to show its age, as it gets older and older.  The floors creak a lot when you walk on them, and the 2nd and 3rd floors don’t even need to be walked on.  If it keeps going on like this, there won’t be a Newsom’s on 208 East Main St. anymore, and you won’t get to go inside that future museum and see Newsom’s past.  All we would have to do would be to repair the 2nd and 3rd floors and fix a few other spots but still keep that old, country feeling, so everyone can enjoy Newsom’s for a long time and get a little taste of the past.

This essay and photograph(s) are the property of Preservation Kentucky, Inc. and Kentucky Heritage Council and that any use of the photo or essay must be approved by PK and KHC.