{"nrhp_refnum":"92001703","name":"Woodson's Mill","other_names":["Piney River Mill","DHR File No. 62-93"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"VA 778 E of jct. with VA 666","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lowesville","county":"Nelson County","state":"VA","lat":37.72144809800005,"lon":-79.06383719035081,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1992-12-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Woodson's Mill is a four-story, post-and-beam, water-powered grist mill on County Route 778 at Lowesville, Nelson County, Virginia, with four other contributing buildings. Parts of its foundation may date to a mill of 1794, and the present building dates mainly to the nineteenth century.","why_significant":"It is described as one of the best examples of a nineteenth-century water-powered mill in Virginia that is structurally intact and still operating. It keeps both older millstone machinery and a largely complete early twentieth-century roller mill system. Under Dr. Julian B. Woodson from 1900 it grew from a local mill into a regional commercial operation and a community center.","narrative":"Woodson's Mill is a four-story, post-and-beam grist mill beside the Piney River at Lowesville in Nelson County, Virginia. Some of its foundation may date to a mill built in 1794, but the building mostly reflects nineteenth-century construction, including an 1845 enlargement. Its machinery records the changes in American milling. Millstones came first, followed by Oliver Evans belt-driven conveying systems, and then a roller mill system added after 1900 by Dr. Julian B. Woodson to produce fine white flour. Woodson, a doctor, dentist and later state senator, also built an office into the mill and added water wheels to power an ice plant, sawmill and electricity. The mill served as a community meeting place and polling site. After closing in the 1960s, it was restored from 1983 and again grinds grain with a Fitz steel wheel. Four additional buildings on the property also contribute.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"No style (vernacular)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Restored from 1983 and operating as a water-powered grist mill, with two water wheels in use and a working cider press.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.762202-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/9/6820/41682009/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/92001703.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92001703/59c4e6413a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92001703/59c4e6413a-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woodson%27s_Mill.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woodson%27s_Mill.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41682009","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodson%27s_Mill","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8033369"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/nelson-county/woodsons-mill-92001703/"}