MLive says: “In the northeast corner of St. Joseph County, you'll find a restored, historic mill surrounded by beautiful gardens, walking paths, bridges and gazebos. Rawson's King Mill Park is a destination for a day of exploration or perhaps a special event. The park is perfect for a wedding. Check out the scenic dam before launching your kayak in Nottawa Creek. You can even cook a meal on one of the barbecue grills and enjoy a picnic surrounded by the park's beauty.”
June 9, 2019
I visited Rawson’s King Mill Park on a rather rainy June day. It’s set back in a bunch of farmland, and was definitely quite a ways off the beaten path. The park is a historical mill site that was donated to St. Joseph County Parks by the Rawson family. It’s a pretty spot for senior pictures, engagement photos, or a small outdoor wedding. There are gazebos, and the gorgeous mill building still standing on the property.
The park features a dam that runs into Nottawa creek, which was unfortunately depositing foam (from PFAS - maybe) along the banks of the creek.
I walked the entire park - it isn’t very large; not necessarily somewhere you could spend an entire day. There were lots of pretty native plants throughout the park, some well-kept gardens, and bridges/gazebos/water features that would make for a pretty picnic setting. There are some private residences that are directly on the edge of the park, which made it hard to tell if I was maybe moving off of public land and onto private land in certain places.
Not feeling terribly impressed with Rawson’s Park, and wanting to feel better about my decision to drive very far to get here, I decided to drive down the road to another St. Joseph County Park. This one was called Feek Park, and seemed much more natural. I parked my car on the grass, as there was no obvious place to park a car, and looked for a sign or something to let me know where to go. I could see a trail going in two directions, but no indication of where it might take me. I took a right and started walking through some pretty tall flooded grass, and I came to a clearing with more trails. It honestly looked like someone ran a lawnmower in random zig-zags through a perfectly good meadow. There were no signs, no obvious direction to follow through the intersecting “trails,” and I couldn’t really figure out what I was supposed to do here.
I walked back to my car in very wet shoes and decided that I was done with St. Joseph County and their underwhelming parks. On to the next one, I suppose.