With the holidays upon us, many families will be staring at blank calendar days, wondering what to do with restless kids. A trip to the Hill Country Science Mill is a welcome alternative to the sugar-fueled, gift-obsessed holiday vortex. In addition to a day of family fun and scientific exploration, it might hold one key to healing the schism between urban and rural communities in America.

The old feed mill on Main Street in Johnson City, Texas was a local landmark for generations. Originally a steam grist mill and cotton gin, it reincarnated as a flour mill, electrical power mill – and finally – as a feed mill. In the 1980’s a restaurant and entertainment complex moved in, a sign that the mill’s industrial days were over. Eventually the site sat mostly silent, one of those picturesque backdrops so prevalent in the Texas Hill Country and other rural counties across the country… Read more from the Rivard Report