Mill Details

Aldie Mill

Loudoun Co. | Virginia | USA
Known Dates: 1807-09
Township: u/k
Watersource: Little River.

Official Website: www.aldiemill.org
Location / Directions

Aldie Mill

Take US 15 south of Leesburg, Va. for about 16-17 miles to Gilberts Corners,then turn right (west) on US 50 and go 2 miles to Aldie. The mill is on the south side of US 50 in Aldie.




View Larger Map
Verse for Thought
"One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple."
({Psalm 27:4 NKJV})
Aldie Mill
Jim Miller 07/22/2014

The Aldie Mill was built in 1807 to 1809 by Charles Fenton Mercer, a friend of George Washington. The mill retains the singular notariety of being the only surviving mill in Virginia that has twin, tandem overshot wheels. The mill operated as a merchant mill, buying the grain from local farmers, then grinding it into flour or cornmeal, and shipping to commercial enterprises on the East Coast and to foreign ports.

Aldie Mill
Carnegie Survey of the Architecture of the South (Library of Congress).

Mill at Aldie, Aldie, Loudoun County, Virginia, photo taken between 1926 and 1944. Wooden roof overtop of the two Fitz Water Wheels was to protect them from snow and ice during the winter months. Most mills that did not have the water wheel(s) located inside of the building had wooden roof over top of the wheel historically.Ted Hazen

Aldie Mill
Jim Miller 07/22/2014

This building was once connected to the main mill, but in the restoration or before, the intervening section was dismantled. The mill used 48' millstones, somewhat smaller in diameter than usual, to grind grain to flour producing about 8 to 12 bushels of flour an hour. This figure can be stated more impressively by saying production of 2 ton/day. The mill operated up to 1981, when it was given to the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, a organizatioon concerned with preserving natural resources and historical features related to them, by the James Douglas family, the then owners.

Aldie Mill
Jim Miller 07/22/2014

This building was once connected to the main mill as seen in the black & white photo; but in the restoration or before, the intervening section was dismantled.

Aldie Mill
Jim Miller 07/22/2014

The mill features a tour that is free, but suggested donations of $2.00 Adults and $1.00 children. It is open from late April through late October, Sundays- 12:00 noon to 5:00 pm.

Aldie Mill
Jim Miller 07/22/2014

The mill retains the singular notariety of being the only surviving mill in Virginia that has twin, tandem overshot wheels.

Aldie Mill
Jim Miller 07/22/2014

The tandem wheels of the merchant flour mill, with the country flour mill beyond.

Aldie Mill
Jim Miller 07/22/2014

The gate that controls the water flow to the waterwheels. The miller's house is in the background.

Aldie Mill
Jim Miller 07/22/2014

One of the two tandem water wheels.

Aldie Mill
Jim Miller 07/22/2014

The mill operated up to 1981, when it was given to the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, a organizatioon concerned with preserving natural resources and historical features related to them, by the James Douglas family, the then owners.

Aldie Mill
Jim Miller 07/22/2014

The Grainary, situated west of the main merchant mill structure.

Aldie Mill
Jim Miller 07/22/2014

There is an Aldie Stone Bridge on US 50 near the mill that is also worth checking out.

 
Upload Pictures
I want to upload picture(s) at this time.