The Kennedy-Wade Mill, or Wade's Mill, is a

grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

and national

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

located in

Raphine, Virginia Raphine is an unincorporated community in Rockbridge County in the Shenandoah Valley in the U.S. state of Virginia. History The name "Raphine" was chosen in honor of James Edward Allen Gibbs (1829-1902), a local farmer who patented a novel single ...

and listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. It was originally built c. 1750 by Captain Joseph Kennedy. In 1846 the mill was sold by the Kennedy family to Henry B. Jones, who expanded and improved the mill. After passing to other owners in 1867, the mill was damaged by fire in 1873. It was rebuilt and leased to (and later bought by) James F. Wade, and put back into use in November 1882. The Wade family continued to operate it for four generations. It was bought in 1991 by Jim Young, and is still functioning today. The mill grinds flour using

millstone Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, for grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones. Millstones come in pairs: a convex stationary base known as the ''bedstone'' and ...

s and a 21-foot overshot

water wheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or buckets ...

. The flour is shipped to restaurants and livestock farmers. Nearby and also part of the Kennedy-Wade's Mill Historic District are the miller's house and other houses and outbuildings structures forming the small mill community.

References

External links

Wade's Mill
Grinding mills on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Rockbridge County, Virginia Buildings and structures in Rockbridge County, Virginia Watermills in the United States Flour mills in the United States Tourist attractions in Rockbridge County, Virginia Grinding mills in Virginia 1793 establishments in Virginia Industrial buildings completed in 1793 {{RockbridgeCountyVA-NRHP-stub