The Glade Creek Grist Mill is a "new" mill that was completed in 1976 at Babcock. Fully operable, this grist mill was built as a re-creation of one which once ground grain on Glade Creek long before Babcock became a state park. Known as Cooper's Mill, it stood on the present location of the park's administration building parking lot.

Of special interest is that the mill was created by combining parts and pieces from several old mills that once dotted the state. The basic structure of the mill came from the Stoney Creek Mill which dates back to 1890 and was dismantled and moved piece by piece to Babcock from a spot near Campbelltown in Pocahontas County. After an accidental fire destroyed the Spring Run Grist Mill near Petersburg, Grant County, only the overshot water wheel could be salvaged. Water from Glade Creek now powers this same wheel at Babcock. Other parts for the mill came from the Onego Grist Mill near Seneca Rocks in Pendleton County.

A living Monument to the over 500 mills which thrived in West Virginia at the turn of the century, the Glade Creek Grist Mill provides freshly ground cornmeal and buckwheat flour which park guests may purchase. Visitors to the mill may journey back to the time when grinding grain was a way of life and the groaning mill wheel was music to the miller's ear.

History: E.V. Babcock deeded the bulk of what makes up today's park to the State of West Virginia on October 11, 1934, at the rate of $2 per acre. An additional 100 acres was purchased from Mr. Babcock for $10 per acre. Like so many tracts of land during this period, this land had been heavily timbered and was deemed worthless for further development.

As heavy timbering played a role in the near destruction of many of the forest where state parks are today, so The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) played an equally important role in the development of such areas. In 1934, a CCC Camp was established near the proposed park. During the next 3 years trails were cut, roads were built and cabins, an administration building, and swimming pool were constructed.

The highest point in the park is 2,700 feet, while the lowest is 900 feet at the now-abandoned site of the town of Sewell, located at the western-most point of the park. Founded in the early 1800s, Sewell boasted a population of nearly 1,000 people in its heyday. During these prosperous days, a narrow gauge railroad was built from Sewell to Clifftop and Landisburg at the top of the canyon. In the dry spring and fall seasons, the coal-fired engines would spew sparks and hot cinders into the air, setting numerous forest fires. In 1955 the coke ovens closed, the mining ended and the town died overnight.

Today, within the boundaries of the rugged yet serene park, wildlife abounds. Park guests are often treated to the sights of red and gray foxes, gray squirrels, cotton-tailed rabbits, ruffed grouse, beavers, wild-turkey, and white-tailed deer. With annual attendance of more than 200,000 people, Babcock State Park is a magnificent link in the West Virginia State Park System.