{"nrhp_refnum":"06000749","name":"Tyro Mill","other_names":["062-0028"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"VA 56 (Crabtree Falls Hwy)","address_restricted":false,"city":"Tyro","county":"Nelson County","state":"VA","lat":37.818133405000026,"lon":-79.00532613999997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-08-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A multi-story frame grist and flour mill on Highway 56 in Tyro, western Nelson County, Virginia, built in 1846-47 for William Massie with a late nineteenth-century addition, plus a mid-nineteenth-century log dwelling traditionally called the miller's house.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the mill as a well-preserved antebellum water-powered mill that retains original timber framing, a husk frame, millstones and later 1925 machinery. It was built by planter William Massie, reportedly with enslaved labor, and equipped by millwright Matthias Law. It served the Tyro community into the twentieth century, and also housed the post office for a time.","narrative":"Tyro Mill is a multi-story frame grist and flour mill on Highway 56 beside the Tye River in western Nelson County, Virginia. Built in 1846-47 for planter William Massie, it rests on a stone foundation and has an overshot metal waterwheel, six-over-six windows, Dutch doors and a gabled drive-through. A late nineteenth-century addition extends the building. Inside, exposed mortise-and-tenon framing, chamfered posts, two runs of millstones and a heavy wooden husk frame survive, along with steel gears and belt drives from a 1925 overhaul. Massie reportedly decided to build after a quarrel with his brother, who owned another mill, and hired millwright Matthias Law to equip it. Family tradition holds that Massie's enslaved workers built it. A nearby mid-nineteenth-century log dwelling, traditionally the miller's house, is included with the mill. The complex is now vacant, and rot has damaged the south wall and addition.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Millwright Matthias Law of Rockbridge County; built for William Massie, reportedly by his enslaved workers","architectural_style":"No Style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed current function is vacant/not in use; parts of the structure, especially the south wall and the addition, are deteriorated or partly collapsed.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:02.756929-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/33/6820/41682033/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/06000749.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000749/169a348145-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000749/169a348145-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Philip N. Wheeler","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tyro_Mill,_Nelson_County,_VA.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Philip N. Wheeler</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tyro_Mill,_Nelson_County,_VA.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41682033","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyro_Mill","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7861539"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/nelson-county/tyro-mill-06000749/"}