{"nrhp_refnum":"70000479","name":"Yates Mill","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Lake Wheeler Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Raleigh","county":"Wake County","state":"NC","lat":35.71875708400006,"lon":-78.68806987499994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-02-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Yates Mill is a two-story weatherboard gristmill with a shed addition, millrace, overshot waterwheel and stone dam on Lake Wheeler Road in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina. The site was surveyed in 1756 and the mill probably dates to the mid-18th century.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it one of the few surviving examples of the early American milling industry in eastern North Carolina. It is the only site of the four mills known to have served 18th-century Wake County where an actual mill still stands. It was also used for lumber manufacturing, corn and wheat milling, and wool carding.","narrative":"Yates Mill is a gristmill on Lake Wheeler Road in Raleigh, Wake County. The main block is a two-story weatherboard building with a finished attic, measuring about 34 by 27 feet, with a shed addition on the east side and a loading porch. It rests on rubble piers, and a wooden millrace, an overshot waterwheel and a rubble dam holding back the millpond remain. The site was surveyed for Samuel Pearson in 1756 and granted to him in 1761, and the mill was probably built shortly before. William Boylan, a Raleigh newspaper founder, rebuilt and modernized it after 1820. It was later known as Penny's Mill, then took its name from Phares Yates, whose family ran it until 1948. It closed in 1953 and last operated in 1963. The mill is regarded as one of the few early milling examples left in eastern North Carolina, and the only surviving mill site among four known in 18th-century Wake County. It was used for lumber, grain milling and wool carding.","period_of_significance":"18th and 19th centuries (boxes checked; no specific dates given)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as fair condition, altered, unoccupied, with preservation work in progress. The mill last operated in 1963 and is owned by North Carolina State University. The wooden millrace and waterwheel are badly deteriorated, while the dam is well preserved.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:56.567503-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/82/7225/47722582/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/70000479.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000479/a995fd4d33-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000479/a995fd4d33-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Mark Turner","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yates_Mill_at_Yates_Mill_Pond_Park-20110116.jpeg\" rel=\"noopener\">Mark Turner</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yates_Mill_at_Yates_Mill_Pond_Park-20110116.jpeg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47722582","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yates_Mill","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8050212"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/wake-county/yates-mill-70000479/"}