{"nrhp_refnum":"74002114","name":"Muddy Creek Mill","other_names":["Muddy Creek Mills"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"S of Cartersville off VA 684","address_restricted":false,"city":"Tamworth","county":"Cumberland County","state":"VA","lat":37.64864516550006,"lon":-78.0827461309319,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-10-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A large late-eighteenth-century stone, brick and frame grist and flour mill with associated community buildings at Tamworth, near Cartersville in Cumberland County, Virginia, on Muddy Creek about a mile from the James River. It was built in three periods between 1750 and 1800.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the mill as an unusually large eighteenth-century industrial building and the only known surviving mill in Virginia with a double tier of dormer windows. It also retains nearly all of its early-twentieth-century roller-milling machinery, and deeds and insurance policies document its technological evolution well. It was the focal point of the Tamworth community.","narrative":"Muddy Creek Mill is a large grist and flour mill in the small community of Tamworth, Cumberland County, Virginia, about a mile from the James River. Begun in the third quarter of the eighteenth century by Nicholas Davies, it reached its present size by 1785 under Richard James and was raised to its current height under a lease agreement of 1792. The building measures roughly thirty-eight by seventy-seven feet, with a sandstone basement and first floor, a brick second floor laid in Flemish bond, and two frame half stories under a slate roof with two tiers of dormers. It is the only known surviving Virginia mill with that dormer arrangement. Inside, a roller-mill system installed around 1910 survives, along with bolting equipment and one stand of millstones. The mill produced flour for local use and for trade on the James River Canal until the 1950s. Nearby are a brick store, a miller's house, a farmhouse and a dairy.","period_of_significance":"18th and 19th centuries (specific dates 1785, 1792)","architect_builder":"Nicholas Davies (built earliest portion); Richard James (owner, enlarged 1785); date stone initialed for mason CL. Moren M","architectural_style":"Late-eighteenth-century vernacular industrial architecture","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as presently idle, in fair condition, with structure, gearing and machinery intact despite recent flood damage; it ceased production in the 1950s and could again be made operable. The nearby brick store still serves as post office and general store.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.155691-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/37/6803/41680337/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/74002114.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74002114/e661e5b31d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74002114/e661e5b31d-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Thomas da Silva at English Wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MuddyCreekMill_from_East.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Thomas da Silva at English Wikipedia</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MuddyCreekMill_from_East.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680337","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muddy_Creek_Mill","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6931655"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/cumberland-county/muddy-creek-mill-74002114/"}