1833 Grist Mill 1769 Site - Danville, Virginia

Joshua Worsham's 1769 Mill Site

In 1761, Joshua Worsham began buying land on the north side of Dan River, across from where the Town of Danville was laid out in 1793, In 1769, two years before he died, he built a water-powered grist mill on the bank of the river. When he died in 1771, he dived his 437-acre tract between sons Thomas Worsham, who received the upper half with the grist mill, and William Worsham who received the lower part with the home place and graveyard.

This 1833 engraving of the water-powered grist mill on Dan River is an 1885 advertisement. The first mill at this site was built in 1769 by Joshua Worsham. His son Thomas Worsham with partner Richard Yarbrough four and a half story brick building in 1833. The dam is misplaced on this drawing.

This is a detail of an actual photograph of the 1833 mill. My son Bobby Ricketts recently acquired several original photographs from "up north" which were taken in 1888 by a former Civil War prisoner in Danville during the Civil War. The old soldier came back in December of 1888 and took pictures of "Prison No. 3," "Rev. Geo. W. Dame, The Prisoners Friend," and a view "Looking from the left of Prison No. 1." Note the covered conveyor belt between the mill and the smaller building to the right. To the right of this building came be seen a railroad trestle. This track of the Lynchburg and Danville Railroad was completed just 14 years earlier in 1874. On a long wooden fence to the right (not seen here) is a long sign: "Use Carter's Little Liver Pills." Advertising along the railroad was very popular and effective during the late 1800s.

This is an old map showing the Yarbrough Mill and the wing dam.

The water entered the building on the right side from the race. There was a strong flow of water but not much height. Either a turbine or an undershot wheel would have been required to power the machinery. The belt between the buildings is shown. Note the railroad siding for the mill. Apparently, much of the flour and corn meal was shipped out of town by railroad.

A record states that on May 18th, 1894, all these buildings are vacant and owned by Riverside Cotton Mills. To obtain a better water supply, the company closed this mill and built a dam a short distance below. The low dam between the Main and Union Street bridges and the new Dan Valley Mill was completed in 1894. The race on the north side of the dam supplied water for the Dan Valley grist mill and the Number Six Mill, just below the Main Street Bridge.

A note on this 1894 map: "Being built - To be in operation Jan. 1, 1895." The race by the Dan Valley Mills continued under the Main Street Bridge here to supply power for this mill. There were six water turbines to operate this large mill. At top left is North Main Street.

Bridge Street Girst Mill - Danville, Virginia 1771

At upper right, in this 1877 map, is the Danville water-powered grist mill built after the flood of 1850. At mill at the same location was operating in 1771. In the 1820s, the mill race was converted to the Roanoke Navigational Canal. Water power was still used as long as the proper dept was maintained for bateau passage.

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During the early 1770s, the area, which became Danville, was still a part of the English King’s colony of Virginia. At that early date, there were two water-powered gristmills at the “Great Falls” where the town was laid out in 1793. Typically, flour and corn mills were built where there was a steep drop in the water level to allow for a large water wheel, which powered the mill. Most mills were built where there were steep banks on either side of the stream. A wider dam would be more difficult to build and harder to maintain. It is not clear when the mill on the south side of Dan River was constructed. It was in operation and owned by Capt. John Dix in 1771. John Dix bought the mill and 165 acres of land in 1769. The previous owners were Thomas Wynne and his father Col. William Wynne. Col. Wynne, was operating a mill on Pumpkin Creek back in 1754 may have built this mill. On March 9, 1771, John Dix advertised to lease the mill and surrounding 165 acres. He described the mill as having a pair of Cologne Stones and a bolting cloth. This mill operated from waterpower supplied from a long race from above the falls. A wing dam diverted the river water into a race beginning near the present Union Street Bridge. This race was more than 3,000 feet with a drop of about 27 feet. This was fall enough for a conventional wooden waterwheel. A great flood washed away a mill at this location in 1850 and replaced. This mill is shown on an 1877 map of Danville. This mill was operating when Riverside Cotton Mills began operation in 1882. They later bought the mill, operated it for a time and then tore it down. They constructed another flour mill nearby. John Dix may have leased the mill at the falls. John Dix made application at the June court 1772 in Pittsylvania County to build a mill on Hances Creek. This creek enters Dan River about a mill down stream just southeast of the site of Dix Ferry and below the house where John Dix lived. See a separate article on the north side of Dan River mill.

Col. Wm. Wynne's Mill on Pumpkin Creek circa 1750.

This is the sill and angled planks for Col. William Wynne's Mill on Pumpkin Creek. The planks were typically nailed to the 12" x 12" sill to prevent the water from the mill pond from washing under the dam. This wood has been in this location for more that 250 years.

The red line is the old pioneer road leading from Danville passing near the old Wynne's Mill and crossing Pumpkin Creek and climbing the hill to the North Carolina state line. The road continued through Providence to Caswell Courthouse (Yanceyville) and on to Hillsborough Courthouse (Orance County).

Flour and corn meal were very important to early settlers in colonial Virginia. Very early, community gristmills were constructed to grind wheat and corn for surrounding families. Laws were passed to keep the mill operators honest. The custom was for the miller to keep a portion of the flour or meal as payment for his services. Each mill had a measure holding one-tenth of a bushel, which was used I the tithing process. That portion deducted by the miller was known as a toll.

The town of Danville was established by the General Assembly in 1793, but the location was important long before the Revolutionary War. Prior to this date, the area of “The Great Falls of Dan River” was knows as Wynne’s Falls, after an early settler. Col. William Wynne came here in the 1740s and settled on a land grant of 2,000 acres. He and his sons bought more land and at one time there land stretched from the falls where the Main Street Bridge is no located, to the North Carolina state line.

By 1754, Col. Wynne was operating a water-powered gristmill on Pumpkin Creek. The old pioneer road leading from the Great Falls led out the present Jefferson Street by the mill and on to Caswell Courthouse. The exact location has been located. In the waters of Pumpkin Creek is the typical 12” x 12” wooden sill with remnants of the planks which were nailed at a 45 degree angle more than 250 years ago. There is a steep bank on the south and the northern wing of the earthen dam can still be seen. Just below the dam for the millpond is a sunken area where the water wheel once turned.

This area has not yet been developed. North of the remnants of the dam sill is a deep cut through the woods where the old road was located. A clue to the path of the old road is a short section in Danville still called Walters' Mill Road. The best known Walters' Mill Road is just inside of Caswell County and runs parallel to the state line to Hogan's Creek, where Walters' Mill operated for a long time.