Aldie Mill Historic District

Last updated

Aldie Mill Historic District
Aldie Mill Historic District G - Stierch.jpg
Aldie Mill and its millwheels
USA Virginia Northern location map.svg
Red pog.svg
USA Virginia location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationBoth sides of U.S. 50 from E of Rte. 612 to W of Rte. 732, Aldie, Virginia
Area60 acres (24 ha)
Built1803
NRHP reference No. 70000806 [1]
VLR No.053-0114
Significant dates
Added to NRHPSeptember 15, 1970
Designated VLRJune 2, 1970 [2]

Aldie Mill is a water mill in Aldie, Virginia. Built shortly after 1804 to grind grain using the waters of the Little River, it retains much of its original machinery and is one of the best-preserved mills in Virginia.

Contents

History

Charles F. Mercer, a lawyer, Virginia legislator and military officer, obtained the right to dam the Little River and to build a mill in 1804. He built a house for himself across the Little River Turnpike, calling the complex "Aldie Manor," after Mercer's supposed ancestors' Aldie Castle in Scotland. The village that grew around the complex was named Aldie in 1810. [3] Mercer's father, James Mercer, had operated a tub mill at the location from about 1764. The new mill was built between 1807 and 1809 by William Cooke, who worked for Mercer under an indenture contract. Cooke built the mill, granary miller's house and store, as well as the now-disappeared distillery, blacksmith shop, sawmill, cooperage and wheelwright's shops, in return for a half-share in the mill operation. [4] The original mill machinery was a system patented and manufactured by Oliver Evans. Much of the machinery, along with the original wood water wheels, was replaced at the beginning of the twentieth century. [5] Mercer bought Cooke's share in the operation for $11,250 in 1816, leasing the mill to tenant operators. [6] Mercer sold the mill in 1835 to John Moore, whose descendants operated the mill until 1971, through six generations. [7]

Description

County Mill Aldie Mill Historic District C - Sarah Stierch.jpg
County Mill

The main portion of the brick mill building is two stories, with two loft levels under the roof. It is flanked by a one-story section on the east and a two-story portion to the west.

The milling machinery inside is powered by two overshot water wheels, arranged one after the other.

The historic district surrounding the mill includes two houses, the Mercer House and the Miller's House. The Mercer House overlooks the mill. It is a two-story Federal style house, covered in stucco and altered over time. The Miller's House, a two-story brick structure, is behind the mill between the Little River and the millrace. The Miller's House has been expanded to the rear. [3] Other buildings in the complex include a granary dating to the period 1809–1816 and a smaller "county mill" structure, [7] used to make plaster. [4]

The village of Aldie grew up around the mill after its construction. [3]

Park

The complex is part of the Aldie Mill Historic Park, operated by the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, and is open to the public. The metal millwheels have been restored and operate the mill's machinery. [8] It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 15, 1970. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middleburg, Virginia</span> Town in Virginia, United States

Middleburg is a town in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 673 as of the 2010 census. It is the southernmost town along Loudoun County's shared border with Fauquier County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oak Hill (James Monroe house)</span> Historic house in Virginia, United States

Oak Hill is a mansion and plantation located in Aldie, Virginia that was for 22 years a home of Founding Father James Monroe, the fifth U.S. President. It is located approximately 9 miles (14 km) south of Leesburg on U.S. Route 15, in an unincorporated area of Loudoun County, Virginia. Its entrance is 10,300 feet (3,100 m) north of Gilberts Corner, the intersection of 15 with U.S. Route 50. It is a National Historic Landmark, but privately owned and not open to the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Aldie</span> 1863 battle of the American Civil War

The Battle of Aldie took place on June 17, 1863, in Loudoun County, Virginia, as part of the Gettysburg Campaign of the American Civil War.

NOVA Parks is an inter-jurisdictional organization that owns and operates more than 10,000 acres of woodlands, streams, parks, trails, nature reserves, countryside and historic sites in Northern Virginia in the United States. The Authority was organized in 1959. NOVA Parks presently operates 34 regional parks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aldie, Virginia</span> Unincorporated community in Virginia, United States

Aldie is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located between Chantilly and Middleburg in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States. The historic village of Aldie is located on the John Mosby Highway in a gap between the Catoctin Mountains and Bull Run Mountains, through which the Little River flows. Aldie traditionally serves as the gateway to the Loudoun Valley and beyond.

The Snicker's Gap Turnpike was a turnpike road in the northern part of the U.S. state of Virginia. Part of it is now maintained as State Route 7, a primary state highway, but the road between Aldie and Bluemont in Loudoun County, via Mountville, Philomont, and Airmont, is a rural Virginia Byway known as Snickersville Turnpike, and includes the about 180-year-old Hibbs Bridge over Beaverdam Creek. This turnpike replaced, in part, the first toll road in the United States, which consisted of two roads from Alexandria northwest into the Shenandoah Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Washington's Gristmill</span> United States historic place

George Washington's Gristmill was part of the original Mount Vernon plantation, constructed during the lifetime of the United States' first president. The original structure was destroyed about 1850. The Commonwealth of Virginia and the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association have reconstructed the gristmill and the adjacent distillery. The reconstructed buildings are located at their original site three miles (4.8 km) west of the Mount Vernon mansion near Woodlawn Plantation in the Mont Vernon area of Fairfax County. Because the reconstructed buildings embody the distinctive characteristics of late eighteenth century methods of production and are of importance to the history of Virginia, the site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places despite the fact that the buildings are not original.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tyro Mill</span> United States historic place

Tyro Mill is a historic grist mill located at Tyro, Nelson County, Virginia. It is a multi-story frame mill built in 1846–47 with an addition made in the late nineteenth century. It has a metal-sheathed gable roof and a stone foundation. There is an overshot metal wheel in a stone wheel well and remnants of the head race. The mill contains original machinery including wood gears and drive shafts, two runs of millstones, and a husk frame in the basement gear pit. Also on the property is a mid-19th century log dwelling—traditionally identified as the miller's house—with twentieth century frame additions and front porch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple Hall</span> Historic house in Virginia, United States

Temple Hall is an early 19th-century Federal-style mansion and working farm near the Potomac River north of Leesburg in Loudoun County, Virginia.

Stone Mills Union Church is a historic church at Stone Mills in Jefferson County, New York. It was built in 1837.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sugar Loaf Farm</span> United States historic place

Sugar Loaf Farm is an early 19th-century cluster of agricultural, industrial, and residential buildings located in a bucolic setting approximately 7.5 miles southwest of Staunton, Virginia and 1/2 mile southeast of Sugar Loaf Mountain. As a member of the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, Sugar Loaf Farm maintains the only surviving brick grist mill in Augusta County, Virginia. The brick grist mill on the property combines the mechanical principles of Oliver Evans, a prominent mill designer of the late eighteenth century, with the engineering craftsmanship and building detail of molded brick cornices, a vernacular architecture in the upper Shenandoah Valley in the early 1800s. The Farm's three original buildings, the farmhouse, grist mill and miller's house, were all constructed by David Summer at a time when Augusta County had emerged as the center of one of the most dominant wheat-growing and flour-processing regions in the South. Sugar Loaf Farm serves as a valuable reminder of the wheat-based agriculture that persisted in this region well into the twentieth century. Today, Sugar Loaf Farm is a privately run farm that specializes in raising Black Angus cattle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mascot Roller Mills</span> United States historic place

Mascot Roller Mills, also known as Ressler's Mill, is an historic, American grist mill complex that is located in Upper Leacock Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jervis Gordon Grist Mill Historic District</span> Historic district in Pennsylvania, United States

The Jervis Gordon Grist Mill Historic District, also known as the Milford Grist Mill and Rowe's Mill, is an historic grist mill and national historic district that are located in Milford, Pike County, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brookside Farm and Mill</span> United States historic place

Brookside Farm and Mill is a historic grist mill and farm complex located at Independence, Grayson County, Virginia. The Brookside Mill was built in 1876, and is a three-story, three-bay by three bay, heavy timber frame building measuring 30 feet by 35 feet. The principal dwelling was built in 1877, and is a two-story, three-bay, frame building with a central passage plan. Other contributing buildings and structures include a brick spring house, brick smokehouse, log corn crib, frame hen house, miller's cabin, the miller's cottage or Graham House, a frame service station / garage (1918), and concrete dam (1914) and earthen mill race.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graves Mill</span> United States historic place

Graves Mill, also known as Jones Mill and Beech Grove Mill, is a historic grist mill complex located near Wolftown, Madison County, Virginia. The complex includes a three-story, heavy timber frame gristmill; a two-story, log, frame, and weatherboard miller's house; and a one-story heavy timber frame barn. The gristmill was built about 1798, probably on the foundation of an earlier gristmill built about 1745. It was owned and operated by members of the Thomas Graves family for more than a century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parker Mill</span>

The Parker Mill, also known as Parker Mill County Park or Parker Mill Complex, is a historic mill and park in Ann Arbor Charter Township, Michigan. The mill is a well-preserved example of a small-scale grist mill operation that was once common in Michigan. The mill and nearby Parker House were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cockram Mill</span> United States historic place

Cockram Mill is a historic grist mill complex located near Meadows of Dan, Patrick County, Virginia. The mill dates to about 1885, and is a two- and three-story, rectangular frame building on a concrete foundation. It measures 111 feet by 24 feet and is located adjacent to a concrete dam on the headwaters of the Dan River. The mill is operated by two metal turbine wheels, 14 feet and 16 feet in diameter. Associated with the mill is the contributing miller's house built about 1921.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barnard Farm</span> United States historic place

Barnard Farm is a historic home and farm complex located near Ararat, Patrick County, Virginia, United States. The original section of the house dates to 1829, with expansions about 1851 and in the 1930s. It is a two-story, log and frame dwelling with interior Greek Revival style decorative detailing. The front facade features a one-story American Craftsman style porch. Also on the property are the contributing Barnard's Store, Kibler Post Office, garage, granary, spring house, cellar, chicken house, Barnard Cemetery, corn mill, barn and tobacco barn, outbuilding, pack house, and two tenant houses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Causey's Mill</span> United States historic place

Causey's Mill is a historic grist mill located in Causey's Mill Park at Newport News, Virginia. It was built in 1866, and is a small two-story wood-frame building originally supported by a brick and concrete foundation. It retains its original machinery and is one of the two last surviving grist mills on the Peninsula. The mill operated until nearly the 20th century. In 2011, the mill was moved about 75 feet from its original location away from the shore of the Mariners' Lake and set on a new foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fair Oaks (Aldie, Virginia)</span> United States historic place

Fair Oaks is a historic farmstead at 23718 New Mountain Rd. in Loudoun County, Virginia, near the village of Aldie. The 2+12-story wood-frame Italianate style house was built in 1881 by Alexander Moore, whose family operated the Aldie Mill for many years. The most prominent exterior decorative feature is the front porch, which features a delicately scroll-sawn balustrade and decorative brackets. Most of its interior woodwork has been preserved. The farmstead includes three other buildings dating to the same period, as well as the 1844 Moore family cemetery.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. "Virginia Landmarks Register". Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission (March 4, 1970). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form: Aldie Mill Historic District" (PDF). National Park Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 12, 2012. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  4. 1 2 "The Mercers". Aldie Mill Historic Park. Northern Virginia Regional Parks Administration. Archived from the original on March 31, 2012. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  5. "The Machinery of Oliver Evans". Aldie Mill Historic Park. Northern Virginia Regional Parks Authority. Archived from the original on March 31, 2012. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  6. "Early Management of Mill Operations". Aldie Mill Historic Park. Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority. Archived from the original on March 31, 2012. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  7. 1 2 "History". Aldie Mill Historic Park. Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority. Archived from the original on October 7, 2011. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  8. "Aldie Mill Historic Park". Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved September 15, 2011.