The mill was built in stages by Edwin Boston Mabry (1867-1936), born in nearby Patrick County, Virginia. Ed was a fifth generation Mabry to live in the Patrick, Floyd, and Carroll County area.

Ed had water-powered lathe on some land near his Patrick Co. birthplace about 1890. This small fasctory enterprise produced chairs. He later worked in the anthracite coal fields of West Virginia as a blacksmith.

The race is joined here by a side flume from a smallerstream or spring. Ed returned to the Meadows of Dan about 1903, and since he had just worked at the blacksmith trade, he built the structure as a blacksmith and wheelwright shop.

The mill in winter, photographer unknown. The cnter section was this first venture; but, soon became a saw mill, needed for the areas development.

A cutaway model of the mills interior design. The right portion of the mill, added fron 1910-1914, towards the pond, which was not there until after the resoration in the early 1940's, became a remake of Ed's earlier chair factory, including a wheel hub turning lathe, a lathe to produce tonue & groove lumber, a planer, and a jigsaw.

The 1937 photo of the mill with Ed & Lizzie's house beyond. The grist mill came into its own in 1905, the sawmill being relegated to the addition on the uphill end of the mill, toward the water source. Lizzie was much happier out working in the grist mill than being the homemaker. She could handle grain & flour sacks with ease. She actually took over operating the mill, run by an 8 hp engine in later years, when Ed health deteriorated. He died in 1936 and the mill soon closed.

The photo shows men working on the waterwheel rebuilding as part of the overall mill restoration in 1942. Ed and Lizzie life together at the mill can be gleaned from the video at the website indicated above the first picture.

The Matthews cabins, a fine example of Appalachian mountain architecture, was moved to the mill site from nearby Galex in 1956 by the National Park Service, which administers the Mabry Mill. Exhibits within, offer a peak at the leather tanning and shoemaking crafts, common at the turn of the 20th century.

Mill grinding stones laying near the mill are perhaps some used to grind grain and corn at the mill. Yellow corn was ground for meal and white corn for grits.

Another view along the race, towards the mill, below the earlier photo of where the side flume joined the main race/flume. Also check this website out for further information: http://www.brptrails.com/brp1762.htm

The wooden waterwheel. Probably not the same one from the 1942 mill restoration. The Park Service administers and maintains the buildings and grounds. The mill is open May-October. Grain is ground during occasional demonstrations, and you can purchase stone-ground flour from a nearby restaurant and gift shop. There is also a whiskey still, a sorghum mill, and a working blacksmith shop where demonstrations of blacksmithing are given periodically throughout the summer months

Any one can have their own scale model of Mabry Mill. Muir Models Mabry Grist & Sawmill/Water N & Nn3 scale.