AmeriCorps Co-op Project at Jolly Mill

For AmeriCorps Week, Bev teamed up with the Purdy Reading Tutors for a work day at Jolly Mill Park which is on Capps Creek between Granby and Monett. This is a private park which is open to the public. Volunteers who live in the subdivision by the park maintain and run it. This is a beautiful little park with a working mill (every third Saturday during the summer) that is on the national registry for historical places. The park is known for its fishing (Roaring River stocks the mill pond), its kid-friendly stream, and the gazebo which has been the site of many weddings. You can expect to see 400 people there on an average weekend, and up to 200 people for a Sunday morning baptism service.

(Did you notice the new orange 20th anniversary Stream Team shirts?)

Last year this whole park was flooded. It wouldn't have been so bad but a log jam upstream broke loose and a wall of mud and water and trees came tearing through. The mill itself had a foot of mud in the building. If it hadn't have been for AmeriCorps helping them out, they said the park STILL would not be open. This year was spent replacing lost trees, trimming, staking, and fertilizing.
The other projects were pulling the excess watercress out of the wading stream, planting flowers, weed-eating, and general clean-up. We couldn't have picked a better day- it was beautiful weather! And it was a great time working with another AmeriCorps group. As they would say, the Purdy Reading Tutors ROCK!