Water mill in the village of Zekhnova - a monument of industrial architecture, end of the 19th century - beginning of the 20th century

Water mill in the village of Zekhnova - a monument of industrial architecture, end of the 19th century - beginning of the 20th century

In Zekhnova village in the late 19th - early 20th centuries there were two water mills. The mill, located on the Mudrruchye worked inconsistently and was abandoned at the beginning of the 20th century. At the end of the 19th century at the intersection of the Bezymyanny stream and the road leading from Zekhnova to the village of Spitsino, the locals built a water mill –verkhneboyka,where water was supplied from above to the water wheel. The Zekhnova mill had two wheels that set in motion flour millstones and pestles.
For the mill to work a powerful flow of water was needed, so a water channel was dug manually - a kopanets, whose length is 390 meters. Residents of the village constantly monitored the condition of the mill and dam. Every year before the start of haymaking, all Zekhniva villagers with axes and shovels cleaned the springs at the mill. The mill in the Zekhnova worked day and night and all year round, only severe frosts could suspend its work for a short time. A small house for the miller was built near the mill.
According to the recollections of local residents, at the beginning of the 20th century there was no miller (pomelschik or kukhar) in the village. Each family milled in turn. In the 1930s-1970s, there were 4 millers at the mill: Abramov Ivan Andreevich (late 1930s-1950s), Abramov Semen Vasilievich (late 1950s), Fofanov Nikita Egorovich (early 1960s), Boloznev Konstantin Dmitrievich (1960s - early 1970s).
By the end of the 1940s, the mill was weaken and repaired by the carpentry team of the New Life collective farm (Zekhnovo village). At the end of the 70s of the 20th century, the mill in Zekhnova was abandoned.
In the 2000s the specialists of the Pomorye Carpentry School carried out a comprehensive restoration of the water mill building in the Zekhnova village on the funds of federal program Culture of Russia. The restoration of the mill started in 2004, but due to problems of financing the project, the completion of work was constantly delayed. And only in 2008, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, it was finally restored, and the mill mechanisms were recreated.
In the building of the restored mill there is an exposition Zekhnovskaya Flour Mill, which reveals the history and traditions of the Kenozero mills. Visitors are welcomed by a kukhar - a wooden sculpture of a miller, made by Vologda master Sergey Gusev. Photos of villagers illustrating the main agricultural traditions tell us how in the old days they cultivated bread. Guests of the mill can find out in which Kenozero villages the mills were built, how the two-tier water mills differ from the single-tier ones, and the water ones from the bottom mills, what is common in the mill mechanisms of wind and water mills. On the ground floor there are various items used during the preparation of local pastries, as well as replica of traditional bakery products - zhitnikis, dvinyanky, rybniks, nalivushka, vitushkas, yagodniki, kalitkas.