Mills and Mill Sites in Fairfax County, Virginia and Washington, Dc
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Grist Mills of Fairfax County and Washington, DC MILLS AND MILL SITES IN FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA AND WASHINGTON, DC Marjorie Lundegard Friends of Colvin Run Mill August 10, 2009 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Most of the research for this catalogue of mills of Fairfax County was obtained from the owners, staff members, or neighbors of these mills. I want to thank all these persons who helped in the assembling of the history of these mills. Resource information was also acquired from: the library at the National Park at Great Falls, Virginia; the book, COLVIN RUN MILL, by Ross D. Nether ton; brochures from the Fairfax County Park Authority; and from the staff and Friends of Peirce Mill in the District of Columbia. Significant information on the mill sites in Fairfax County was obtained from the Historic American Building Survey (HABS/HAER) reports that were made in 1936 and are available from the Library of Congress. I want to give special thanks to my husband, Robert Lundegard, who encouraged me to complete this survey. He also did the word processing to assemble the reports and pictures in book form. He designed the attractive cover page and many other features of the book. It is hoped that you will receive as much enjoyment from the reading of the booklet as I had in preparing it for publication. 0 Grist Mills of Fairfax County and Washington, DC Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ......................................................................................................................... 0 GRIST MILLS of FAIRFAX COUNTY and WASHINGTON, DC .............................................................. 2 HISTORY OF FAIRFAX COUNTY ......................................................................................................... 3 CABELL’S MILL ..................................................................................................................................... 5 COLVIN RUN MILL................................................................................................................................ 7 PIERCE MILL .......................................................................................................................................... 9 ROBEY’S MILL ..................................................................................................................................... 11 GEORGE WASHINGTON'S GRIST MILL ............................................................................................ 13 MILL SITES AND MILL RUINS IN FAIRFAX COUNTY ....................................................................... 14 AYRE MILL SITE .................................................................................................................................. 15 BARCROFT MILL SITE ........................................................................................................................ 15 BOWMAN’S DISTILLERY ................................................................................................................... 16 BRIGGS MILL SITE .............................................................................................................................. 16 BROWNS’ MILL SITE .......................................................................................................................... 18 COTON PLANTATION MILL SITE...................................................................................................... 19 DOMINION MILL-RIGHT IN OUR BACK YARD ............................................................................... 19 DOMINION MILL IN ALEXANDRIA .................................................................................................. 21 EDES MILL SITE .................................................................................................................................. 22 FENDALL-HIPKINS MILL SITE .......................................................................................................... 23 FOX MILL SITE .................................................................................................................................... 23 HERNDON MILL SITE ......................................................................................................................... 24 HUNTER MILL SITE............................................................................................................................. 24 JACKSON MILL SITE ........................................................................................................................... 25 JOHN MASON MILLS .......................................................................................................................... 26 KEENE MILL SITE ............................................................................................................................... 27 LANE’S MILL RUINS ........................................................................................................................... 27 MURDOCK’S MILL SITE IN DC .......................................................................................................... 28 NEWTON’S MILL SITE IN DC ............................................................................................................. 29 OLD MILL RUINS IN GREAT FALLS, Virginia................................................................................... 29 OLD MILL SITE IN GREAT FALLS ..................................................................................................... 30 PINEY BRANCH GRIST MILL SITE .................................................................................................... 30 PITTSMAN’S GRIST MILL SITE ......................................................................................................... 31 ROCK HOUSE AND MILL SITE .......................................................................................................... 31 SUN SAWMILL AND GRISTMILL SITE ............................................................................................. 31 SWINK’S MILL SITE ............................................................................................................................ 32 SYMOND’S MILL SITE ........................................................................................................................ 33 TOWLSTON MILL SITE ....................................................................................................................... 34 UNION MILL SITE ................................................................................................................................ 34 WHEELER’S MILL SITE ...................................................................................................................... 35 CENTERVILLE MILLS ......................................................................................................................... 35 MISCELLANEOUS SITES .................................................................................................................... 36 FAIRFAX COUNTY MILL SITES IN 1813 ........................................................................................... 37 MISCELANEOUS INFORMATION FROM THE 1813 CENSUS ....................................................... 39 MISCELANEOUS MILL SITES IN FAIRFAX COUNTY ..................................................................... 39 MILLS ALONG ROCK CREEK FROM 1790 TO 1897 ......................................................................... 42 1 Grist Mills of Fairfax County and Washington, DC GRIST MILLS of FAIRFAX COUNTY and WASHINGTON, DC 2 Grist Mills of Fairfax County and Washington, DC HISTORY OF FAIRFAX COUNTY Many people owned land in this county and many rented land to farm. The common lease form was called the “3 lives lease”. This meant the land lease was enforced for the duration of three lives of the persons named in the lease. Most often this involved the man, wife and son. Usually the lease holder was required to build a house at least sixteen feet by twenty feet, a tobacco barn that was thirty feet by twenty feet, and plant a specified number of fruit trees and cut timber needed for personal use. For 100 to 200 acres of land, the annual rent in 1760 was around 530 to 630 pounds of tobacco delivered to a tobacco inspection warehouse. The right to vote was given to lease holders in the county in which the land lease was held. If the leased land was sold, the lease remained in place. Unlike leaseholders, the tenants had no secure tenure to their land and were subject to eviction without notice. Tenants were transient, staying only to make one crop. Much of the labor was provided by black slaves. In general the larger the land holdings, the more slaves the owner had. In the 18th century there were few roads. Most people traveled little, either by foot or horse. The roads were maintained by the owner or renter of the adjacent land. To create a new road, a request was made to the county court who would appoint two to three men to lay out the new road. The work on the roads was performed by renters on the land through which the new road was cleared. The roads meandered in order to avoid hills, streams, and swamps. Some of the roads followed old Indian trails. Sometimes the road followed a ridge. Construction and maintenance of bridges was the responsibility of the county courts. There was a bridge at Grayson Mill that crossed Pohick Creek built in 1750. The bridge over Pimmit Run was built in 1754 by Gerrard Trammell. A bridge over Wolf Trap was constructed