Family revives historic Meņķu mill complex

A family is restoring the historic Meņķu mill complex in the Dignāja area of Jēkabpils Municipality, with plans to make it a tourism and recreation destination while preserving its heritage, LSM reports, citing Vidusdaugavas Television.

When Raivis Baltris and his family first bought the property, they were looking only for a home by the water. As they began clearing the grounds, they uncovered nine cellars and five wells. The site had been overgrown and neglected, Baltris said.

The complex includes a four-storey mill. Mill researcher Jānis Lācis has ranked it among the three best-preserved examples of this kind of industrial heritage that he has surveyed in Latvia.

The manor’s origins may date to the 16th century, and it flourished in the 19th century. A historian noted that the site was marked on a military map in 1702, during the Great Northern War, making it unlikely that new construction began there at that time.

The complex housed a mill at various times and later a corset factory. A sawmill operated there until the early 1990s.

An alpaca named Doriņš now greets visitors, who often bring it treats. Baltris said the more time he spent at the property, the clearer it became that the complex was a special and valuable part of the region’s heritage.