When you visit Yates Mill and Historic Yates Mill County Park, there are many types of activities you can join – tour inside the mill, watch while corn is ground into cornmeal with costumed guides, walk around the park, or enjoy a nature program.

Visit The Mill

Weekend Public Tours

There are 2 types of public tours given at Yates Mill, March through November:

• Mill Heritage Tours – most Saturdays and Sundays
• Corn Grinding Weekends – 3rd weekend of the month in March, April, May, June, September, October and November

Tours are conducted outside and in the non-air conditioned mill, so we may have to cancel due to excessive heat, storms or other extreme weather. Please call the park (919-856-6675) to make sure tours are going ahead as scheduled.

Schools, clubs and other groups may book group tours on weekdays. Call 919-856-6675 for more information. Tours are free, but donations are suggested. All donations go to Yates Mill Associates and are used for mill repair and maintenance. Tours by weekday appointment include:

History Detective Tours

These weekday, hour-long tours are scheduled by request and are offered to children ranging from second through fifth grade. Interpreters lead a tour around the outside of the mill and below the water wheel as well as inside the mill.  Students discover how power is transferred from the mill’s water wheel to its grist milling machinery.

Little Red Hen Tours 

These weekday, hour-long tours are scheduled by request and are offered to children ranging from preschool to first grade. The tour includes a story time in the auditorium and is followed by a walk to the mill and its water wheel, as well as a brief tour inside the mill where students learn how grains were ground at the mill.

Mill Heritage Tours

These hour-long tours delve into the history of Yates Mill, its founders, and its community. Volunteers meet the visitors in the Visitor Center and guide the guests along the path to the mill, making brief stops along the way to highlight different historical topics.  The tour ends inside the mill, where guides discuss the operation of Yates Mill.

PROGRAMS AND MORE

In addition to corn grinding and mill tours, Historic Yates Mill County Park offers numerous educational and recreational programs, nature explorations, summer camps, and special events for all ages. Visit the Wake County web site for details.

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Visit The Park

The park and museum are free and open 7 days a week (except for major holidays), from 8 a.m. to sunset.

Yates Mill is the centerpiece of Historic Yates Mill County Park, a 574-acre park and wildlife refuge. In addition to taking a tour of the mill, at Historic Yates Mill County Park you can

• Walk trails
• Watch migrating waterfowl and other wildlife on the 20-acre pond
• Fish from designated areas
• Enjoy a peaceful visit with nature
• Visit the museum focused on milling and the area’s natural history
• Attend programs on various topics hosted by park staff

The park is managed as a native wildlife refuge with a mission to study and interpret the area’s cultural, natural and agricultural heritage — therefore pets are not permitted except for certified assistance animals.

Call 919-856-6675 to book a tour or visit the park web site for more information.

Historic Yates Mill County Park
4620 Lake Wheeler Road
Raleigh, NC 27603

The mill is 5 miles south of downtown Raleigh and 2.8 miles south of Interstate 440.
(view on Google maps)

From Raleigh
Take exit #297 from I-440 (same exit as the Farmer’s Market).
Go 2.8 miles south on Lake Wheeler Road. The park entrance will be on your right, just past the NCSU Poultry Field Research Station and Howling Cow Dairy Education Center and Creamery and just before the traffic light at the intersection of Lake Wheeler and Penny roads.