 
Street in Aldie Mill Historic District
Photograph courtesy of Scenic America
|
|
Charles Fenton Mercer,
military officer, legislator, and advocate of the colonization of African
Americans, settled here in 1804. He named his property for Aldie Castle,
his Scottish ancestral home. The large merchant mill, constructed in 1807
by Mercer's partner William Cooke, survives as one of the best outfitted
early mills in the state. The three-part complex includes what was a plaster
mill at one end and a store at the other. The mill's twin overshot Fitz
wheels, installed in 1900, are a unique surviving pair in Virginia. Overlooking
the mill is the large Federal house, built by Mercer in 1810 as his residence.
Behind the mill is the miller's house. Completing the grouping is an early
stone bridge across Little River.
|
Aldie Mill
Photograph courtesy of Virginia Department of Historic Resources
Archives
|
The mill operated into the 1970s. Mr. and Mrs. James Edward Douglas,
whose family had owned and operated the mill continuously for six generations
since 1834, donated it to the Virginia Outdoors Foundation in 1981.
The Virginia Outdoors Foundation has been restoring the mill to serve
as an operating example of an early 19th-century wheat and corn mill.
The Aldie Mill Historic District is located along Rte. 50, west of
Rte. 15, in Aldie. Historic Aldie Mill is located at 39401 John Mosby
Highway, and is open 12:00pm to 5:00 on Saturdays and 1:00pm to 5:00 pm on Sundays from April 30 to the
last week of October. Call 703-327-9777 for further information.
|
