Bigler's Mill was a small town in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

near

Williamsburg Williamsburg may refer to: Places *Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia *Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City *Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California *Williams ...

in York County which is now extinct. It is considered one of the many lost towns of Virginia. The original community on this site was founded by James Bigler in the spring of 1852, who purchased 2400 acres of timberland, part of the tract known as Rippon Hall. He built a sawmill and gristmill with a long pier extending into the York River. A series of homes, a store and church were also constructed. During the Peninsula Campaign of the Civil War, the property was occupied by Confederate forces; in May 1862, Federal gunboats shelled the mill and set fire to the buildings and the pier, for which Bigler was later compensated. After the war, a new community grew up along the river based on oyster planting and harvesting. In this practice, seed oysters were gathered from rocky river bottoms, mostly in the James River, and planted in the muddier York River.Schulte, D.M., 2017, History of the Virginia oyster fishery, Chesapeake Bay, USA: Frontiers in Marine Science v. 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2017.00127 The right to plant and harvest sections of the riverbed was leased from the state, and leaseholds were transferable, a system that provided some measure of protection from overfishing, and prosperity for the lease owners. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

took over a large area in the north-western portion of York County, which was developed as

Camp Peary Camp Peary is a U.S. military reservation in York County near Williamsburg, Virginia, which hosts a covert CIA training facility known as "The Farm". Officially referred to as an Armed Forces Experimental Training Activity (AFETA) under the ...

. All residents of the entire towns of Bigler's Mill and nearby Magruder were removed, and many of the areas were redeveloped. Camp Peary later became well known as "The Farm," a training facility for the U.S.

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

(CIA). Access to the base is restricted. The 100-acre (400,000 m²) Biglers Millpond occupies the site adjacent to the York River.

References

Ghost towns in Virginia Populated places in York County, Virginia {{US-ghost-town-stub

See also

References