Chapman’s Mill

This is not a Phaeton Journey, but somehow it seemed appropriate that I post about today’s outing in this blog. After all, had it not been for a recent Phaeton getaway to Winchester, we probably would never have ventured out to explore today’s site.

Taking advantage of glorious blue skies, brilliant sunshine, and comfortably warm temps, we packed a picnic lunch and headed west on I-66 this morning. Our destination: ruins that we’d glimpsed where the interstate edged up to trees and bushes.

Reminiscent of the bombed-out shells of buildings one might see in war movies, our curiosity was piqued by the stone walls that stood forlornly by the roadside. We had no idea what they were, how we would get to them, what we would find once we got there — or if we would be able to even get near, let alone get inside. Well, we got lucky — the October 2 edition of the Washington Post Magazine ran a short article that answered all of our questions.

Corn and wheat. War and peace. Each pair played a significant part in the formation and disintegration of Chapman’s Mill, the hollow stone structure along Interstate 66 West near Haymarket.

Those opening words of the article whetted our appetite to learn more about the mill, which was built between 1737 and 1742 by a family named Chapman. And so we took off around 7:30a to go exploring. The morning was quiet, there was little traffic to contend with, and the day was perfect for an hour-long drive. Well, it would have been an hour or so, except that we didn’t trust the directions we’d written down from the website of the organization dedicated to turning the site into a historical park. Word to the wise — follow the directions; if you don’t take the right exit, it will be a while before you find another one to turn back!

Anyway, we finally arrived at the mill site to a tiny bit of disappointment. No, it wasn’t crowded; far from it. We were the only ones there — except for the men dismantling tents and folding tables and chairs. Obviously we were there on the morning after a special event.

Neither the tents nor the honeybuckets add to the ambiance of the mill.

Darn! What to do? Well, patience usually wins the day, so we decided to explore the inside of the hollow mill building in the hopes that enough of the work would be done so that I could photograph the exterior without any detractions later. I won’t keep you in suspense. The picture above was taken about an hour after we arrived on site, and as you can see there was still plenty of work to do. But we got lucky, the van next to the small house had to move briefly and that was my cue to grab a couple of nice shots of the mill. It’s all in how you work the angles, you know :-)

Chapman’s Mill and the Mill Store (foreground)

The Turn the Mill Around Campaign website has done a good job of providing a brief summary about the area and the mill, so I’m including their words here with the photos I took — I see no reason to recreate the wheel, so to speak :-)

Thoroughfare Gap is a narrow gap between Bull Run and Pond Mountains, through which Broad Run flows as it descends 87 feet. The Gap was used by migrating buffalo and traveling Indians long before it became a transportation corridor for grain and goods between the Valley and the Atlantic. Mention of the Gap was first recorded in 1697, by a group of Marylanders passing through in search of a band of Piscataway Indians. Later Tidewater planters used the Gap as a route to the rich Shenandoah Valley.

Mui’s playing the role of the storekeeper today.

During wartime its use became even more strategic: it was an escape route during the French and Indian War, during the Revolutionary War it was the route east to join the army, and during the Civil War, it was a strategic passageway for both armies. At the time of the Spanish-American War in 1898, 10,000 American troops were stationed at the Gap to avoid a typhoid epidemic in Alexandria.

Built in 1937, the mill store was where flour and cornmeal were sold.
Later, it was used as a post office and a gas station.

Chapman's Mill was built in 1742 by Jonathan and Nathaniel Chapman, a father/son partnership from an enterprising, well-connected colonial family. Enlarged in 1758, the mill became a prosperous gristmill that fostered the development of the Shenandoah Valley as a wheat and corn producing region for the next one hundred years. Due to the mill's location between the Valley and the city of Alexandria, corn and wheat could be transported efficiently by wagon to the mill, ground into cornmeal and wheat, and then shipped from Alexandria to ever-expanding markets in Europe and South America.

Chapman’s Mill is also known as Beverley mill after the family that restored the mill in 1876.

In 1759 Fauquier County was created from old Prince William County, and the related documents noted that the boundary between the two counties passed through the mill, as it does today. The prosperity of the mill was enhanced when, in 1852, the Manassas Gap Railroad was completed, passing beside the mill and reducing the travel time to Alexandria. In 1858 the Chapmans enlarged the mill, raising it to a total of seven stories and making it a model of agricultural technology. Chapman's Mill has ground cornmeal and flour for American troops during seven wars: The French and Indian, the Revolutionary, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World War I and World War II.

Clicking the shutter once and checking the picture twice.

The Civil War: By July of 1861 the Confederates had turned Chapman's Mill into a meat curing warehouse and distribution center. Herds of cattle and pigs were enclosed in large pens, and more than two million pounds of Confederate meat were stored on the site. Confederates, leaving after the First Battle of Manassas, burned the meat and the mill to keep them from the advancing troops.

Efforts are underway to stabilize and restore the mill.

What Mui’s doing is called “bench exploring!”

On August 28, 1862 Union General Ricketts was ordered to occupy Thoroughfare Gap to prevent Generals Lee and Longstreet from marching through the Gap and joining Confederate troops gathering for the Second Battle of Manassas. Historians say that if Ricketts had prevailed at the Battle of Thoroughfare Gap, which took place in and around the mill, the Second Battle of Manassas would never have taken place.

I'm going to take a stab at guessing that these gears were important to the mill operation.
[above and below]

During much of the Civil War, Col. John S. Mosby and his Raiders traversed Thoroughfare Gap as they sought to disrupt the movement of Union provisions to their armies in the South.

By 1876 the Beverley family had restored the ruins to a very successful milling operation and the mill took on their name.

A treasure-trove of rusty equipment is hidden in the trees on the far side of the mill property.
Don’t you think that piece on the lower right looks like porky pig?

The mill continued to operate under various owners until 1951. In 1998, the building fell victim to arson — which explains the reason why there are ruins for us to visit today. For most people, the site is perhaps a 15-minute stop; we spent about two hours. Yes, we’re slowpokes when it comes to exploring, but we had reason to dally as we waited for the work crew to clear out so I could get the photo I’d come to take. It was worth it!

The top center photo was taken on 19 October 1998, just three days before the fire.

We’d planned to have our picnic lunch at the mill, but it was still early when we finished exploring the site. Using the GPS, we searched for nearby parks and came up with what we hoped would be a gem — Waterfall Park. Hah!!! After a long drive on a winding road that took us through rural areas fragrant with eau de cow and residential neighborhoods trimmed with white picket fences, we were skunked. It turns out, this was not a park, but a subdivision yet to be built!!! That’s OK, had we not been lost on the back roads of Haymarket, we would not have come across another park that served nicely for our simple al fresco meal.

Not gourmet; but certainly healthy.

What’s so funny, you ask? We forgot that the camera was set to burst mode when we put the timer on; this is about the 6th picture it took of us when we really only needed one.

OK, so we had a few mishaps along the way, but we had a fun and interesting day nonetheless. I bet the mill site is really beautiful with fall foliage, but that will have to wait for another year. We’ll be overseas visiting family when the colors turn this year.