DALTON, Ga. — Prater’s Mill is a huge part of the history of Whitfield County and northwest Georgia. Built in 1855 by Benjamin Prater, Prater’s Mill quickly became a hub of activity, as farmers from across north Georgia brought their corn to be ground at the mill.

But for Elaine Prater Kettles Lightfoot, Prater’s Mill was also a big part of her family history. She was part of the last generation of the Prater family to actually live in the nearby Prater house.

“The Prater house was the summer house of her grandfather, W.H. Prater,” said Judy Alderman, one of the founders of the Prater’s Mill Foundation, which organizes the annual Prater’s Mill Country Fair that is being held Saturday and Sunday.

“They had a house in Dalton on Thornton Avenue. That’s where the family lived during the rest of the year, and the children went to school in town,” said Alderman.

Elaine Prater Kettles Lightfoot, 82, passed away recently at her home in Valparaiso, Florida.

“When Mr. Prater got older, Elaine’s father, Gordon Kettles, came back to Dalton to help run the farm,” Alderman said. “Mr. Kettles also helped run the cotton gin and feed store on Glenwood Avenue. He was editor of the Dalton News, and he served as mayor.”

Alderman said the family sold the farm and the mill to the Church of God of the Union Assembly in 1954, about the time Elaine left to go to college at Auburn University.

After graduating from Auburn, Elaine lived for more than 30 years in Dunwoody, where she had a successful career in real estate. She later moved to Florida to be closer to her grandchildren.

By the late 1960s, the mill was unused and had fallen into disrepair. In 1971, several Whitfield County residents formed the Prater’s Mill Foundation, aiming to repair the mill and get it on the National Register of Historic Places.

Alderman said Elaine was very supportive and appreciative of their efforts over the years.

“Elaine would send me information on the history of the mill and the Prater family. And I would keep her updated on what we were doing,” Alderman said. “She would come to the country fair, not often, but when she could. She and her sister Jean found an old piece of furniture, and they drove up one year with that on the back of a truck, and it’s in the country store now.”

Elaine had been planning to come to this year’s country fair.

“She had it marked on every calendar,” said her daughter Leslie Lightfoot. “She was so happy that the mill has been preserved and that the fair has developed into such a special event that attracts so many people each year.”

Prater’s Mill is one of less than 1,000 grist mills left in the United States.

Leslie Lightfoot said the family planned to observe her mother’s last wishes this past weekend, bringing her mother’s cremains home to be buried in Dalton and then going to the fair.

“My nieces and nephews have never even seen the mill,” she said. “We want them to see it and get to know more about our family’s history.”