The Potomac Mills was a mill complex located along the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...

roughly downriver of Shepherdstown. Built in 1826, the complex was originally used as a

gristmill 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 ...

. In 1829, the mill began producing

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mix ...

for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal's construction. The factory continued to produce cement after the canal opened, and it shipped its product along the canal to other cities. Flooding and drought conditions in the 1880s led the mill to reduce its operations, and by 1901 the mill closed permanently. The remaining buildings from the mill occupy an site and are mostly in ruins. The buildings include the main mill building, several lime kilns, a headrace wall, and an office building. The stone foundation of the mill's dam, which extends across the river into

Washington County, Maryland Washington County is located in the western part of the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 154,705. Its county seat is Hagerstown. Washington County was the first county in the United States to be named for the ...

, is also still part of the site. The mill site was added to 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 ...

on February 5, 2014.

References

External links

* *, at Maryland Historical Trust {{National Register of Historic Places in Maryland National Register of Historic Places in Jefferson County, West Virginia Historic American Engineering Record in Maryland Historic American Engineering Record in West Virginia Agricultural buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia Buildings and structures in Washington County, Maryland Industrial buildings completed in 1826 Grinding mills in West Virginia Cement companies of the United States 1826 establishments in Virginia Grinding mills on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Lime kilns in the United States