Cider pressing fun for the whole family is scheduled for three Saturdays this fall–September 23, October 14 and 28. Thompson’s Mills State Heritage Site is open free to the public from dawn to dusk with cider pressing from 11am to 3pm. Fresh cider is available (limit one gallon per family) for your donation to Thompson’s Mills Preservation Society. TMPS President Rebecca Martin will have storytelling for the younger ones and mill-themed gifts are available. Telephone the Mill for additional information at 541.491.3611. Docents are on hand for mill tours–pack a lunch and make a day of it!

Fresh-pressed apple cider was one of the delicious food of settler life. The Oregon Trail settlers who built Thompson’s Mills pressed apples for cider, and now you can too! Come early before we run out of apples! For a donation, you can take home half-gallon containers filled with apple cider. You are also welcome to bring your own apples to press.

The turbines will be running all day, and guides will be stationed throughout the mill to help you make your own flour, explain how the turbines work and tell the story of how and why the last water-powered mill in Oregon still operates. Operating the hands-on exhibits and seeing wooden beams hand-hewn when Abraham Lincoln was president make Thompson’s Mills a memorable family experience. Hosted by the Thompson’s Mills Preservation Society.

Photo: "Thompson's Mills" by Stephanie Low, 2020 Albany Visitors Association