🪵 The Old Mill in Mill Valley for kids

Here's a riddle. Why is our town called Mill Valley? Because of a mill! A long, long time ago, a sailor named John Reed came here from Ireland.

He built a sawmill right here by the creek, under the redwood trees. The water from the creek helped run the mill, and it cut big logs into boards to build houses. You can still visit the old mill in Old Mill Park. It's been rebuilt, so it looks just like it did long ago.

And right next to the park, there are stairs that go up, and up, and up into the hills. Almost seven hundred steps! It's the very first big climb of the Dipsea Race, one of the oldest trail races in America. Could you climb all those steps?