Rocky Mount Mills Village Historic District

Rocky Mount Mills Village is a mill community on the south bank of the Tar River in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, built between 1835 and 1948. It grew around the second cotton mill established in the state, founded by local investors in 1818 and led for generations by the Battle family. The district includes brick mill buildings with Italianate features, a Greek Revival house from 1835 built for the mill owner, a Craftsman community house, and about sixty frame mill houses. The most common house is a one-story saddlebag built for workers between about 1888 and 1915, and five two-story duplexes survive at Falls Road and Elm Street. Because the mill company kept ownership of the housing, the village remained unusually intact, with its original street layout, lots and gardens. It was listed for its industrial and social history, its link to the Battle family, and its collection of mill and worker architecture. The mill closed in 1996.