Zirkle Mill
Why it's listed
Zirkle Mill is a 2½-story frame flour mill built into a hillside beside Holman's Creek at Forestville, near Quicksburg in Shenandoah County, Virginia. Erected before 1815 by Andrew Zirkle, Sr., it sits on a limestone rubble foundation, with post-and-beam construction, an overshot iron wheel and a gable roof of standing-seam metal. Its design follows the merchant mill pattern illustrated in Oliver Evans's 1795 handbook, which local millers were among the first in Virginia to adopt. Jacob Bowers ran the mill profitably from the early 1830s until 1852 and laid out the village of Forestville in 1838. The building escaped destruction during the Civil War and kept operating until the mid-1950s. Inside, machinery from the early 19th century through the 1920s records the change from burr milling to roller milling. The mill is now preserved through adaptive use as a furniture workshop.
Significance in brief: The mill is presented as a significant artifact of the Shenandoah Valley's 19th-century flour manufacturing industry and a survivor of a fast-disappearing building form. Its design follows the merchant mill pattern in Oliver Evans's 1795 millwright's guide. It retains well-preserved milling machinery spanning the early 19th century to the 1920s, showing the shift from burr mill to roller mill. It also survived the Civil War intact and operated until the mid-1950s.
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) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 83003316, listed February 10, 1983. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | W of Quicksburg on VA 42, Quicksburg |
|---|---|
| County | Shenandoah County |
| Listed | February 10, 1983 |
| Reference number | 83003316 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | Ca. 1815 |
| Architect / builder | Unknown (built by Andrew Zirkle, Sr., according to the narrative) |
| Areas of significance | Industry, Commerce, Architecture |
| Level of significance | State |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Milling ceased in the mid-1950s; the building is in excellent structural condition, occupied, and converted to a furniture-making workshop. |
| Acreage | 1 |
| Coordinates | 38.71396, -78.72547 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For an income-producing building, listing (individually or as a contributing building in a district) is the gateway to the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit on qualified rehabilitation costs, often stackable with state credits. Work claiming the credit must follow the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and be approved in advance.
Listing does not restrict a private owner acting without federal money or permits; where federal funding or licensing is involved, Section 106 review applies.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 83003316.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q8072770
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.