Haun's Mill Sign, ca. 1968

Vital Signs

  •   Haun's Mill site visitors often report they have a hard time making their way to Haun's Mill. The roads are sometimes truly impassable, due to local weather, and road signage seems inadequate.
 •   The second most common assertion is that visitors sometimes can't tell when they've arrived at their destination. Often, they find no readily visible signs confirming their arrival.
  •   A third concern is that visitors hope to learn more about the former hamlet's story and physical layout.

    Haun's Mill is high on the must see list for many area travelers en route to or from Independence, Missouri and Nauvoo, Illinois. And, despite the above concerns, it is remarkable how many travelers succeed in finding their way to this remote site despite these difficulties. It is also notable, that guests are often profoundly moved by their encounter with this site that is sacred to so many.

    Through the years, interested friends of the site and Community of Christ, the site owner, have posted many signs at the site and directional signage along the highways.

    Last year Fairview Township, Caldwell County, Missouri, paid for and posted signs directing visitors to the site approaching from both the north and south. Interested parties at nearby Breckenridge, also installed a series of signs, inviting visitors to see the Haun's Millstone on display at the Breckenridge City Park. In less than a year, nearly all of these signs have disappeared.

Approximate Mill Site Sign, ca. 1968

    There is not much the Community of Christ or local neighbors can do about the weather. But the Church has been proactive in its attempts to improve access as much as possible. Through the years, both the Church and Fairview Township local government have expended resources to welcome visitors by improving access and posting directional signage. Recently the Community of Christ collaborated with Fairview Township to replace a small wooden bridge on the gravel access road running between Catawba Road and Haun's Mill site. Now there is a modern all-weather metal culvert in place improving access enormously. Previously, tour buses could only make it to the site on rare occasions. Folks often traversed the last quarter mile or so to the site on foot.

Possible Blacksmith Shop Location Sign, ca. 1968

    An improved parking area was also constructed on site at that same time to accommodate large buses and provide space to turn around. Fairview Township regularly re-grades and re-rocks this access road. But, every year, the gravel on the road either washes away due to seasonal flooding or simply sinks into the ground. In 2002 the township also re-rocked the Haun's Mill parking area. But so many visitors come to the site, that in less than a year's time, these rocks have again disappeared.

    In 2003, Community of Christ plans to install color coordinated directional signs along access routes and interpretive signage at the site. At the same time, ongoing efforts are underway to learn more about the physical layout of Haun's Mill. If these scholarly endeavors prove successful, additional interpretive signage is also envisioned.

Setzer Marker was installed in 1941.
It is now severely weathered.