Valley Mill

A few weeks ago when I posted of mills that once operating along Paint Branch, I was vaguely aware that there must have been a Valley Mill because that is the name of a section of the park. Along the trail that runs by the stream, there were makers for two mills, Snowden and Edmonton, but nothing else. Recently, however, in a part of the park a short distance from the trail, I found a two markers for Valley Mill, the last mill to operate along the stream.

The photo on the upper right of the marker was taken in the 1930's, a few years after the mill closed down, and shortly before the structure was torn down.

The second maker explains how the mill was constructed in 1879 although these local mills were already in the process of being driven out of business by the large, consolidated mills in the Midwest.

The markers make references to a brick house built in 1793 that was associated with the mills that operated along Paint Branch. Unfortunately, they aren't specific as to whether the house to the right of the above marker is that house.