Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 03/16/2023
NRHP Listing Date 04/28/2023
NRHP Reference Number SG100008947
The Roberson Mill, located on the West Fork of Dodd Creek in south central Floyd County, was built by miller and blacksmith John W. Epperly in the mid-1880s and acquired by miller Homer Roberson in 1931. It was one of the last two commercial mills to operate under water power in the county and one of only two existing flour mills that was neither designed to incorporate a roller mill nor modified afterward to accommodate one. The Roberson Mill represents, therefore, the county’s most authentic picture of flour milling as it was done in the United States through most of the 19th century. The frame building is two stories, with the waterwheel location on the east side. Two sets of millstones with a chamfered wooden hoist, and a buckwheat huller are safely intact within the mill, along with well-preserved machinery including two rare bolting chests. Among Roberson Mill’s unusual features are a split-level main floor and the absence of a basement. The mill’s 18-foot Fitz steel overshot waterwheel replaced a 16-foot wooden overshot wheel in 1956. After the wooden sluice began to collapse in 1972, milling continued using electric power instead of water power. The Roberson Mill was last in operation around 1988 under the ownership of Homer’s son Harry Roberson.
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Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Updated: May 5, 2023
