Mills

For hundreds of years the mill was where you brought your grain to have it ground into flour.

This mill has been known by many names - Thompson's Mill (1820), Coleman's Mill, Fleming’s Mill (till 1915) - prior to being now Woodson's Mill.

It is one of the prettiest mills I’ve come across.

My daughter Anna told me I need to return in the fall and recreate this image. I think she’s onto something.

Yes, yes Anna was onto a good idea.

This is another mill in the Beaverdam area. According to my trusted source this is the Mill Keepers House (circa 1735) for Rocket’s Mill.

This was from a road trip where I took my 39 year old son, Wesley, with me and told him, "Son I'm going to park illegally, walk out into traffic, and get this shot. Because I'd regret not getting it more than getting run over by an 18 wheeler."

Actually it was a pretty low traffic situation, I'm always very aware of my surroundings, and I work quick.

"This is one of the oldest mill sites in the county, originally known as Darracott's Mill. It was bought by W. W. Newman in 1872. during the devastation of the Johnston Flood in 1889, the mill was washed away, but the milldam remained. The mill was rebuilt in 1892 and Newman's son, E. W. Newman became the owner of the mill and president of the Piedmont Miller's Association...The Ashland Roller Mills also grinds flour under the old label, Patrick Henry Flour, Meal, & Feed, of the Old Byrd Mill which was built on Byrd Mill Road in Louisa County, Virginia, in 1740. Young Patrick Henry visited the mill often, bringing corn, wheat and buckwheat from his father's nearby plantation. Byrd Mill continued in operation at its original site until 1968 when a fire burned the mill to the ground. Remains of the old mill, the dam and the old mill foundation, which once shipped products directly from the mill, still remain in the creek."

Originally this was a mill built in 1792 when Sampson Stanton and Mark Judkins purchased three acres for the purpose of building a water grist mill. Following Stanton and Judkins passing, the mill was purchased by Peter Booth and upon his death was run by Nicholas Barham, a relative, and became known as Barham’s Old Mill. In 1858 Bennett Griffin became the owner, and a map drawn up in 1864 by the Union Army Corps of Engineers identified it as Griffin’s Mill. Later (1873) Charles W. Nicholson acquired the property and, in addition to the mill, it became a post office and a general store known as Nicholson's. R. C. Morris was the last owner to operate this as a mill, post office, and general store from 1912 until his death in 1930.

The name for the pond "airfield" seems, to the best guesses of historians, to have derived from the constant flow of air over the pond.

This edifice is the Lancaster Roller Mill, originally built "on John Robinson's land grant of 1657, sold to Edward King, then John Carter, since 1666. The "Great Mill" of John's son, Robert, fell to Robert's son, Charles, who petitioned the court authority in 1783, to rebuild.

The 30'X 40' 3.5 story frame structure with brick foundation/basement with dirt floor operated chiefly from 1843-1872 as a stone ground mill. Since 1872, the original set of French buhrs used in the original 1666 mill, has still ground corn meal; but, the wheat grinding has been allocated to the roller process. As with most mid-19th century mills, the mill was the center piece of the community, not only grinding grain for farmers miles around; but, serving as a source of livestock feed, stock medicine, buying and trading other farm and household commodities, and local news."

Lastly Johnson's Mill Pond. The original mill, Vick's Mill, was purchased by Merritt Johnson in 1852. It was in use until recently and is currently in the process of being renovated.