The Mill Pond, Burkes Garden, Virginia
Silverglo, BRISTOL, VA. 6 A 5
This links to the wiki for Burke’s (or Burke) Garden.
This is a Real Photo Postcard printed, I think, by Kelly & Green in Bristol. It was printed on DOPS paper, which was available from 1925 to 1942. K&G took most of their scenics before WWII. I would say a date of late 30s would be good for this picture.
This is Cox Mill or H. L. Cox Mill, a pastiche of old, 19th century, and newer, 20th century, pieces. Parts of the foundation look old, with a worn grinding stone embedded in one area of the stonework. It’s in Scott County on Hwy. 619 (Alley Valley Road) about a quarter mile north of the intersection with 664.
I have read that the big wheel came from a mill further up Alley Valley Road, so the millstone may also have come from there. In 1973, this mill was listed as in operation, with the owner, a Cox, living there. It’s hard to see in this picture, but on the building side of the big wheel is a smaller, geared wheel that appears to have been the one that sources note as proving electricity to the home.
The place is totally abandoned and trashed. A shame, really, since the home must have been comfortable; albeit damp…and cold as Great Claus’s nose in the winter.
If possible, I always read these signs. This one got me because I was intrigued that the writer described W.J. Dickenson (who otherwise remains shadowy on the net) as a “prominent public man”. He actually served as a delegate to the Virginia General Assembly in terms from 1854 to 1882. He sponsored the bill to establish Dickenson as Virginia’s 100th county and to name it (blush) in honor of himself.
