Spangler’s Mill

ON 2/2/22

Strasburg, VA

LINKS: 

• Post from 2009 when this was a restaurant 
• Tuesday Treasures
• Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday
• Travel Tuesday
  
• Strasburg, Fraternal Order of Eagles (current owners)

Water Over the Dam

The art show in Millwood is in full swing. We went on Friday and it wasn't crowded.

Weekend Reflections

After viewing the artwork, we walked around outside. There was plenty of water pouring over the dam.

This is in Clarke County and well worth a visit.

The Breneman-Turner Mill

This historic grist mill is only open on occasional Saturdays. We went there this weekend and got an informative tour.

This is the only pre-Civil War mill in Rockingham County that still has complete milling equipment. The machinery is impressive, technically complex and still operable. Corn was ground here until 1988. 

The mill wheel bears a label of the Fitz Water Wheel Company.

A Civil War Trails sign stands outside the mill. It tells how this mill survived "The Burning" in 1864, when Federal soldiers burnt barns, mills, and other structures that supported the Confederate army. 

"George Shaver, the 70-year-old miller, lived in the house to your left. He was seriously ill, so his 77-year old Wife, Hannah, pleaded with the soldiers not to burn the mill. Sympathetic but following orders, they set the fire and then left; Mrs. Shaver quickly beat out the fire with a broom."

A Long Painting and Some Weather Pictures

Monday Murals: I'm running out of big murals to show you so this is a long narrow one that serves as a backdrop for a model railroad in the Dayton Market. If you didn't notice it when you visited there, you probably didn't look upwards. 

 

Mosaic Monday: I need to make room on my hard drive so I'm deleting old photos, starting with trail camera pictures. Here are four night shots of rain or snow coming down. 

We had rain here today but nothing to be alarmed about. I worry about the people who didn't get out of the path of Hurricane Ida. I remember the destruction 16 years ago. We were living in Montross and I had only been blogging a short time, but I did mention it. Usually I stick to local topics on my blog but some things are local in our hearts no matter where they are. 

Stay safe!

Edinburg Mill and Museum

This large mill in Edinburg now has flood walls. When you look at shallow Stony Creek next to it, you may find it hard to imagine this area flooding.

Tuesday Treasures

 The mill dates to 1850. It narrowly escaped being burned during the Civil War.

There is a restaurant on the lower level and the upper level houses a history museum. 





 

Neavil's Mill

Tuesday Treasures

"This Eighteenth Century Mill was operated by George Neavil. It was still in use in 1932, and was restored in 1962 by the Warrenton Antiquarian Society as a memorial to the early settlers of Fauquier County."

I came across this place by accident last year. I took a back road because Interstate 66 was blocked by a traffic incident. This is somewhere near Catlett, VA. It is said to have been built in 1769. 
 

 

Cabell's Mill in Fairfax County

 Over 200 Years Old. 

Tuesday Treasures / Wordless on Tuesday

Front Royal Craftsmanship and a Walk in the Woods.

Just when I think I am not going to have a Monday Mural, I come across one. This one is actually wooden cutouts fastened to a fence in Front Royal. 

The same yard has a miniature mill and lighthouse. 

I'll show you a few other Front Royal scenes. The town is the county seat and the only incorporated town in Warren County. 

Mosaic Monday

Many people know Front Royal as the northern gateway to Shenandoah National Park. I often drive into the park to eat a picnic lunch or to take a walk. The rest of today's pictures are from a walk at Jenkins Gap. I was actually on the Appalachian Trail but I didn't walk far. The trail is about 2,200 miles (3,500 km) long! I envy the hardy folks who hike the entire length of it from Georgia to Maine. 

The Zirkle Mill in Forestville

Over 250 Years Old. 

Links:

• Our 2008 Post on the Mill. 
• Tuesday Treasures Linkup.
• Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday.

Along Route 55 in Thoroughfare Gap.

Broad Run Post Office.

I've posted plenty of post office pictures because I am a fan of our postal service and the dedicated workers. This particular one reminds me of a time many years ago when my kids were little. This was a store at that time and we would stop here for snacks, particularly country bologna and hard cheese. 

Now it's a post office. To the left is a rocky outcropping and and old house that's been abandoned as long as I remember. It is falling down now. 

Also in Thoroughfare Gap you'll find I-66, Chapman's Mill, and the community of Thoroughfare. This historical marker was erected in 2004. 

 Free People of Color at Thoroughfare

Families of African-American, Native American, and mixed ancestry migrated here from Fauquier, Culpeper, Rappahannock and Warren Counties after the Civil War. The Allen, Berry, Fletcher, Nickens, and Peyton families, along with former slaves from this area acquired parts of former plantations, built homes, and established the farming community of Thoroughfare which prospered through the 1940s. Many of the “Free People of Color” who settled here were illiterate but their families were not accepted into the schools and churches of their white neighbors. In 1885, the North Fork School was built by local labor with county funding on land donated by the Primas family. In 1899, community growth compelled the families to construct a second floor room and hire an additional teacher at their own expense. Also, in 1909 members of the community built Oakrum Baptist Church, on donated land and selected their own ministers.

Signs, Signs and  Little Things Thursday

These shops are across the road from the marker. Here's a view of the map from my navigation screen. I often record the map for my own information. 

I mentioned Chapman's Mill and I have another picture of it; scroll to item 4 in 3/4/2016.

Here is a slightly lightened version of a photo I took long ago, before a fire destroyed the wooden portions of the mill. We called it Beverley Mill then, and it had several names over the years.

Graves Mill.

Madison County, VA.

The mill was built around 1798. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

The miller's house is nearby. 

 

This is in the shadow of the Blue Ridge near Wolftown, not far from the county seat of Madison. This country lane is nearby. 

 

Random-osity: Harrisonburg and Locke's Mill.

The Good, the Random, the Fun.
 

The Good: This colorful mural is on the side of the Indian and American Cafe in Harrisonburg. 

The Random: Not far from there is the downtown post office. It's not nearly as grand as the former location of the post office (shown yesterday), now being used as a court house. 

The Fun: This couple is enjoying a lovely afternoon on the Shenandoah River near Berryville. This is at a public boat landing on Lockes Mill Road. 

Mosaic Monday: The collage shows other scenes from that area. The red building is Locke's Mill, now restored and selling organic grain. This mill dates to 1876 and a previous mill was there in the 18th century.