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Barcroft Mill (Site)

GPS Coordinates: 38.8411597, -77.1452321
Closest Address: 3747 Powell Lane, Falls Church, VA 22041

Barcroft Mill (Site)

These coordinates mark the exact spot where the mill once stood. No visible remains exist since Hurricane Agnes washed away all remains in 1972.


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Here follows an excerpt from the 1970 Fairfax County Master Inventory of Historic Sites which contained sites from the Historic American Buildings Survey Inventory:

Barcroft Mill:
The ruins of the Barcroft Mill are located on the east side of Holmes Run, just south of Columbia Pike (Route #244). The date of construction of the mill and the name of the original owner are uncertain, due to the contradictory sources of information. The court record books ahow that by deed dated 22 March 1866 Ambrose Barcroft sold to Dr. John W. Barcroft (for $1,500) "a tract of land, on Holmes Run, ...known as the Adams' Mill Lot, containing 24 acres." Ambrose Barcroft had acquired the old Adams property in 1848, but it is unclear whether the old Adams mill was standing or if a new mill was built by Barcroft.

Mrs. Milton Barcroft Payne, wife of Dr. Barcroft's grandson, states that the Federal troops returning from the Second Battle of Manassas damaged the property so badly that the milling enterprise was abandoned. The map of northeastern Virginia drawn in 1862 for General Irvin McDowell shows other Fairfax County mills, but none at this location. After the war, Dr. Barcroft purchased another mill, the Arlington Mill, on the site where Columbia Pike crosses Four Mile Run.

The remains of Barcroft Mill can be reached on foot from Columbia Pike. They include most of one long wall with a window opening, and part of an adjacent wall. The mill stones measure 35 inches in diameter.

The Barcroft name has been perpetuated in this area. When Holmes Run was dammed in 1913, the lake and the surrounding residential community were named Lake Barcroft.

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Nathaniel Lee

c/o Franconia Museum

6121 Franconia Road

Alexandria, VA 22310

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