{"nrhp_refnum":"79003296","name":"Kennedy-Wade Mill","other_names":["Wade`s Mill"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"2.3 mi. NE of Brownsburg on VA 606","address_restricted":false,"city":"Brownsburg","county":"Rockbridge County","state":"VA","lat":37.950646827500066,"lon":-79.28623676171773,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-07-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Commerce","Historic - Non-Aboriginal","Agriculture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story gristmill with an attic level, built of limestone and board-and-batten siding, about 2.3 miles northeast of Brownsburg on Otts Creek in Rockbridge County, Virginia. The nominated complex also includes early 20th-century support buildings and an old dam site.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it the most complete, operable example of a gristmill in Rockbridge County. Its collection of milling machinery is significant for industrial archaeology. The grist mill is described as the most essential supportive industry of the agrarian society of 19th- and 20th-century western Virginia. The associated houses, outbuildings and dam site are counted as part of the original energy system and complex.","narrative":"Along Otts Creek northeast of Brownsburg, this gristmill rises three stories plus an attic. Its lower two stories are coursed rubble limestone on three sides, and the rest is board-and-batten framing. A Fitz-type overshot iron wheel sits on the long frame side. The stone portion may have been built early in the 19th century by Andrew Kennedy, who acquired the land in 1799. A mill is first mentioned there in 1811. After a fire in 1873 the upper story was added, giving the building its present form. The Wade family bought it in 1882 and installed roller milling machinery early in the 20th century. Equipment from several manufacturers remains in place, and a portion of the iron conduit race survives. The nominated area also holds a miller's house, a tenant house, a garage, a shed, a small pond and the old dam site. The mill is valued as the most complete operable gristmill in Rockbridge County.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899 and 1900- (both periods appear in the form)","architect_builder":"Andrew Kennedy (stone portion possibly built by him)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition is marked excellent and altered. The mill retains operable machinery, including the original hoist, which still works.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:56.707072-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/61/6833/41683361/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/79003296.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003296/d9409bb34b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003296/d9409bb34b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Morgan Riley","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wade%27s_Mill,_Raphine,_Virginia.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Morgan Riley</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wade%27s_Mill,_Raphine,_Virginia.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"94000458","name":"Kennedy-Wade's Mill Historic District (Boundary Increase)","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/kennedy-wades-mill-historic-district-boundary-increase-94000458/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41683361","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy-Wade_Mill","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6389577"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/rockbridge-county/kennedy-wade-mill-79003296/"}