Barretts Mills
The National Park Service has not published a boundary polygon for this district; the map shows the listed properties inside it and the district's reference point.
Why it's listed
Barretts Mills is a former milling village on Rocky Fork Creek southeast of Rainsboro, Ohio, next to a Long Truss covered bridge. The surviving buildings include a tall, gambrel-roofed frame gristmill dating to 1862, a frame sawmill moved about 100 feet from its original position, a largely intact woolen mill, and the large frame house built by Captain David M. Barrett after the Civil War. Barrett, a state representative and longtime superintendent of the Boys' Industrial School, led the construction of the new mills near the site of the oldest mills in Highland County, where Jesse Baldwin had built a gristmill in 1805 and 1806. The gristmill began with a wooden water wheel and buhrstones and was later converted to a turbine-powered roller mill able to grind 24 barrels of flour a day. It operated until 1957 and has since been restored. The woolen mill produced cloth until 1896. The complex illustrates a once-prominent Ohio industry.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · catalog entry. Generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29).
| Period of significance | 1862 and later (19th century) |
|---|---|
| Areas of significance | Commerce, Invention |
| Acreage | 9.5 |
| Boundary source | not published |
| Full listing page | Barretts Mills (property record) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.