Colvin Run Mill Historic Site Fairfax County Park Authority 10017 Colvin Run Road Great Fall, VA 22066 703-759-2771 Learning Kit Introduction Thank you for scheduling a field trip Inside: to Colvin Run Mill Historic Site. We hope you and your students find your Educational Objectives 2 visit to be both educational and en- joyable. This Learning Kit provides During the visit, your students will you with information to introduce Educational Themes 2 go to three learning centers where your students to the site and to rein- they will learn how simple machines force concepts learned during your made work easier and they will use A Brief History of 3 visit. It includes Standards of Learn- some simple machines. They will Colvin Run Mill ing objectives, educational themes, a also discover the inter-dependence brief history of the site and a time of local rural economics, the impact Worksheet: 4 line, a list of vocabulary words and of geography on the development of 19th Century worksheets. Please feel free to adapt communities in northern Virginia Livelihoods these materials to your needs and to and the importance of transportation Oliver Evans’ 5 make copies of this information. routes for commerce. Automated Mill: A Symphony of Simple Machines In the c. 1900 general store, students discover a thriving Worksheet: 6 commercial center for the Simple Machines Make town and a hub of social the Miller’s Job Easier! activities as well. Students Vocabulary List 7 & handle familiar (and some not 8 so familiar) household items and identify simple machines. In the mill, students learn how grain was ground into flour or cornmeal by the water- In the barn, students use powered grinding stones four simple machines that and how simple ma- made work easier in the chines helped automate days before electricity. the process. Pa ge 2 Learning Kit Colvin Run Mill Historic Site Educational Objectives Science Standards Force, Motion and Energy objectives from the Science Standards of Learning include: 3.2 4.2 Students will investigate and understand simple machines and their uses and see examples of simple machines at work that made the miller’s job easier. 6.2 The following objectives and themes correspond with the History and Social Science Standards of Learning developed for Virginia’s elementary students: History & Social Science A community is a group of people with common interests, especially those living in the same area. The students will learn that in the 19th century a vital rural com- munity of farmers, craftspeople and merchants grew up around Colvin Run Mill. 2.2, 2.7, 4.1, 4.5 In the 19th century, Colvin Run Mill was a merchant mill. The students will learn how producers (like the miller) used natural, human and capital resources to produce goods in the past. 2.6, 2.7, 4.2, 5.6 Geography and transportation routes determined the location of the mill along Colvin Run. The students will learn how these factors also influenced the 2.5, 4.1, 4.2, 5.6, location and growth of the 19th century community. 6.7 Colvin Run Mill operated commercially from about 1811 to the mid-1930s. The students will learn about the social and commercial lives of ordinary Virginians during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Educational Themes Energy is the capacity to do work. Basic energy sources — water, muscle, heat and wind power — have not changed since the beginning of time. What has changed is technology, the ways and means these energy sources are utilized to perform Energy work. Examples of 19th century technology interpreted at Colvin Run Mill are sim- ple and compound machines, hand-powered tools, a water-powered gristmill with its sophisticated system of gear-operated machinery, and simple heating and light- ing methods. A community is a group of people with common interests, especially those living in the same area. Primarily a rural, agricultural community, the 19th and early 20th Community century Colvin Run community survived intact for over a century despite wars and recessions, technological advances and industrialization. The mill at Colvin Run played a pivotal role within that community. Learning Kit Colvin Run Mill Historic Site Pa ge 3 A Brief History of Colvin Run Mill Colvin Run Mill, Fairfax cel from Washington’s heirs George Washington to Bryan Fairfax County’s award-winning and immediately conveyed operational water-powered it, along with a standing gristmill, is a tribute to the mill, to Philip Carper. In “I have been informed that enterprising spirit of Ameri- 1813 Carper paid the first some person has petitioned ca’s past. Long before the known taxes on flour and or is about to petition the mill was an active business, cornmeal produced here. Court of Loudoun for an Acre the land on which it was of the Land I bought of you For more than a century, a on Difficult to Build a Mill built was associated with on. .” several famous Virginians. series of merchant millers operated Colvin Run Mill. In August 1739, Colonel 1783 John Colville received Unlike custom millers who grants from England’s King ground grain for individual George II of almost 10,000 orders, merchant millers acres in what would become bought and sold grain and Fairfax County. He soon flour to serve local and for- sold much of this land to eign markets. Grain prod- than the old-fashioned mill- the bricks and glass, hand- William Fairfax. When Fair- ucts from Colvin Run Mill stones. By 1930, it was esti- hewed timber to precise fax died in 1753, a 275-acre were exported through the mated that over one million specifications and assem- parcel of this property along port of Alexandria. bushels of grain had been bled the machinery. All the Difficult Run was conveyed processed through Colvin gears in the mill, with the A thriving community of to his son Bryan Fairfax. In Run Mill! exception of a few steel farmers, craftspeople and 1760 or ‘61, George Wash- parts included for safety, merchants grew up around After the Millards sold the ington purchased the Diffi- were handmade from the mill. Nineteenth century mill, it sat idle and neglected th cult Run tract from Bryan wood. As in the early 19 gazettes and business direc- for 30 years until 1965 when century, the mill operates Fairfax. the Fairfax County Park Au- tories refer to numerous solely by water power. Wa- Washington recognized the blacksmith shops and coun- thority acquired it and began ter from Colvin Run is potential of Colvin Run as a try stores nearby. The its restoration. Because the diverted into a pond and mill site with a good water c. 1900 Colvin Run General building and machinery had millrace and then flows supply, hardwood forests Store, once located across undergone such fundamental over the 20' wooden over- for building material and the road from the mill, has change over its commercial shot waterwheel to pro- located on a major transpor- been restored as part of life, the restoration was based vide the power that turns tation route leading to mar- Colvin Run Mill Historic on the plans of Oliver Evans the gears and operates the ket at the port of Alexan- Site. (1755-1819) whose innova- machinery. dria. However, the pressing tions revolutionized milling The mill operated for more th business of waging war and in the early 19 century. The Traditionally, the homes of than 120 years, and its most governing the new nation mill’s derelict ruins revealed a famous people and the prosperous period was 1883 prevented Washington from number of similarities to the sites of momentous events to 1934 when the Millard acting on his plans for his floor plans and cross sections have been preserved while family rebuilt the millrace property along Difficult printed in Evans’ 1795 book the buildings used by ordi- and millpond and modern- Run. The Young Millwright and Mil- nary people seldom sur- ized the machinery. The ler’s Guide. vive. Colvin Run Mill rep- Although it is unclear when greatest change was in the resents a time when wood Colvin Run Mill was com- grinding process when a Today’s visitor sees the re- and water performed im- pleted, or indeed who built new roller mill — the latest sults of many skilled crafts- portant work and commu- it, in 1811 William Sheppard in modern 19th century tech- people who have, quite liter- nities prospered in support purchased 90 acres of nology — was installed and ally, recreated the past. They of such enterprise. Washington’s 275-acre par- proved to be more efficient repaired the structure, made Pa ge 4 Learning Kit Colvin Run Mill Historic Site 19th Century Livelihoods Directions: Draw lines to match the words in each column with the pictures Storekeeper Anvil A person who sells goods and A heavy iron block on which provides services to customers. heated metal is shaped. Carpenter General Store A person who builds or repairs A place where people came to buy wooden structures. supplies, get their mail, meet their neighbors and learn the news. Blacksmith Millstones A person who heats iron in a Large round stones used for fire and shapes it into many grinding grain. useful items. Farmer Shaving Horse A person who raises crops or A bench with a foot-operated animals for sale. clamp to hold wood steady as it is shaped. Miller Plow A person who grinds grain to make A tool with a heavy blade used for flour or cornmeal. cutting up soil to prepare for planting. Learning Kit Colvin Run Mill Historic Site Pa ge 5 Oliver Evans’ Automated Mill: A Symphony of Simple Machines Colvin Run Mill is filled with simple machines that accomplish important tasks to make the miller’s job easier.