Elim Things to Do

The water mill, built in 1833 and restored in 1990, has the largest wooden water wheel in South Africa and is again grinding wheat as it did in days gone by. One of the last of the working water-mills of the Cape is in Elim. In its heyday the mill had a curiously graceful air of old-fashioned elegance. Its heavy, slow-turning grindstones produced whole-wheat flour of superb aroma and taste. The whirr of its racks, the rumbling of the grindstone and the merry splashing of water created an atmosphere of honest work and pride in its production. The mill was declared a national monument in 1974. For a long time dilapidated, was formally opened on 21 April 1990.