Testimonials
pp 1 , pp 2

423-272-7040

The Amis Mill Eatery & Trading Post is an on site recreation of the original facility and services offered by Capt. Amis to settlers headed into the wilderness.

Captain Thomas Amis built a fort, mill and dam, circa 1781, at Big Creek on the Great Indian Warpath Trail (later Old Stage Road) with the assistance of friend and fellow settler Scots-Irish John Carter.  He then built the trading post (store), blacksmith shop, forge, distillery, tannery and eventually his home, circa 1781, which was used not only for his family but also to board and feed settlers and travelers.  This was the last roof one could sleep under before heading into the wilderness and on into Kentuck.  The wagon trail ended at Amis and only pack trails continued on to Bean Station and the Cumberland Gap.  Daniel Boone and company frequented Amis while blazing the Cumberland Gap trail.

Capt. Thomas Amis, by any assessment, was an unswerving patriot who became a prominent player in North Carolina's efforts to defeat the Redcoats and their civilian allies known as Tories and Loyalists. But after hiding the famed "Swamp Fox" Francis Marion more than once at his Mill on Drowning Creek, Amis' bravery and willingness to help in the cause of freedom would establish him as a marked man. His family would be driven from their home by the enemy, prompting the following directive from Governor Richard Caswell..."Ordered that a Protection for Mr. Amis's Waggons, while employed in removing his family, & c., out of the way of the Enemy, be enclosed."   Amis was granted a thousand acres in Sullivan Co. NC.( later Hawkins Co., Tn.)