Phoenix Mill

EDITOR'S CLARIFICATION: This mill went by many different names during its centuries in operation. This has lead to much confusion among the general researchers and even some historians today looking at old maps or news articles. To clarify once and for all, THE MANY NAMES ARE NOT FOR MULTIPLE MILLS. THERE HAS BEEN ONLY ONE MILL HERE. Phoenix Mill was also named the Dominion Mill, the Brick Water Mill, the Watkins Mill and Brown's Mill at different points during its history.


<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>
<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>

There is a roadside historical marker near this old building. Here follows the inscription written on the marker:

Phoenix Mill
Alexandria Heritage Trail
— City of Alexandria, est. 1749 —

Phoenix Mill is the last surviving remnant of Alexandria's once thriving milling industry. William Hartshorne built the four-story mill in 1801. The mill was built at a time when Northern Virginia's economy shifted from tobacco to grain production, and flour and wheat were the principal export products of Alexandria's ports. The Phoenix Mill produced flour and feed, as well as ground lime for plaster. Water diverted from Holmes Run powered the mill's overshot water wheel. The 19-foot diameter wheel turned the mill's four pairs of millstones.

When David Watkins purchased the mill in 1854, he renamed it Dominion Mill. Watkins replaced the original water wheel with a 40½-foot wooden wheel (pictured above). He later added a second 40½-foot wheel made of metal that more than doubled the mill's power. The mill produced flour, rye, and mixed feed, as well as ground coffee. Watkins' mill appears as Dominion Grist Mill on the 1878 Hopkins atlas (see detailed map) and as Old Dominion Mills in an 1888 advertisement (see detail). The mill continued to operate as Dominion Mill for another 33 years after Watkins' heirs sold the mill in 1888. In 1921, the Dominion Mill ceased operation as a grist mill. Later owners of the mill used the building as commercial office space, helping to preserve this piece of Alexandria's past.

Water Power:
Overshot water wheels such as those used at Phoenix Mill were one of the most common methods for powering mills. As the name suggests, overshot water wheels receive their water from an overhead sluice that empties directly onto the forward part of the wheel, filling the wheel's buckets and causing the wheel to turn by force of gravity as the water drops. Improvements in wheel design eventually led to an innovative cured-bucket design that was more efficient than traditional straight-sided buckets. When Dominion Mill needed to replace its aging wooden water wheel in 1909, the owners installed a curved-bucket Fitz I-X-L Overshoot Water Wheel designed by John Fitz.

Millstones:
Phoenix Mill had four pairs of millstones. The stones would have weighed from one to two tons each. Grooves chiseled into the grinding surfaces cut and ground the grain. Only the upper millstone in a pair turned. The lower or bed stone was fixed in place. It was the miller's job to see that the millstones were set properly, with no more than a paper's width between the grinding surfaces, and that the grinding surfaces were kept sharp.

Marker Erected 2008 by City of Alexandria.


<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>
<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>

Here follows an excerpt from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Phoenix Mill in the mid-1800s:
Phoenix Mill (also named Dominion Mill and Brick Water Mill) is a historic gristmill built in 1801 and the last remaining gristmill building in Alexandria, Virginia. It was built on the same site as an earlier mill, built sometime between 1770 and 1789, with current best research putting it around 1776, that was destroyed in a fire.

William Hartshorne owned the mill when it burned down and rebuilt it as a four-story mill with four millstones. In 1812 it was offered up for auction as part of the larger Strawberry Hill farm and sold in 1813. It primarily milled wheat but also advertised having plaster available for sale in 1819.

It was sold for $9,000 in 1854 when it was advertised, with the name Brick Water Mill, as having four burrs and the capacity "to grind 100 barrels of flour per day". By 1865 it had been renamed Dominion Mill. By 1930 it had stopped operating.

As of 2023, it is unoccupied and was most recently occupied by the Flippo Construction company, and the land it sits on is 2.0 acres (0.81 ha) in size. The Alexandria Police Department opened a new headquarters near the site in 2011, and a self-storage facility is immediately adjoining the mill's site. As part of the self-storage facility development, in 2017, the development company and the city of Alexandria conducted a study and archaeological assessment of the property. As part of potential highspeed rail on the neighboring railway, its historical significance was evaluated in a 2018 report and recommended the site as likely eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. No known stone mills survive in Alexandria's original boundaries, and Phoenix Mill is the only such mill in the current Alexandria after Alexandria annexed the land.


<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>
<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>

Here follows an except from the site report completed by R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc.:

Located along Wheeler Avenue in Alexandria is a tall, unassuming brick building with a high-peaked roof. The building’s unique many-paned windows hint that the building may be more than it looks. Built in 1801, the building is the last standing grist mill in the City of Alexandria. The four-story brick structure replaced an earlier mill that had burned to the ground in exactly the same spot just months before.

The original mill structure had been built sometime between 1770 and 1789 by William Hartshorne and his partner, George Gilpin (Fairfax Deeds Book R-1:353; Wigglesworth 1976/1977:49). Hartshorne was the sole owner of the mill when fire devastated it in 1801. Hartshorne rebuilt the mill structure, naming it Phoenix Mill. Phoenix Mill was a four-story tall merchant mill that operated four pairs of millstones. The building measured 40 feet wide by 55 feet long and reportedly produced not only flour and feed, but also ground lime for plaster (Wong 2015). The Mutual Assurance Company (1803) valued the mill at $12,000.

Hartshorne used his mill as collateral for an $11,400 loan from Pennsylvanian Mordecai Lewis. When Hartshorne defaulted on the loan in 1812, the property was sold at public auction to repay the debt (Fairfax Deeds M-2:141-143).

Thomas Wilson was the successful bidder for the mill property in 1813. He subdivided the property for the benefit of his heirs in 1823, leaving the mill lot (Lot #2) to David and Hannah Wilson and William and Martha Brown (Fairfax Deeds Book U-2:407, 410A). Neither couple apparently had an interest in operating the mill, for the mill was rented to local millers for the next 30 years.

By 1854, the mill was again for sale at public auction. Now called the Brick Water Mill, the mill was advertised as being able to grind 100 barrels of flour per day. It had four “burrs” or millstones and sat just “yards” from the railroad and turnpike (Alexandria Gazette, January 4, 1854).

The Watkins’ family purchased the mill at auction in 1854. They later purchased an adjoining 27-acre parcel to increase the size of the mill property to 83 acres. Like the previous owners of the mill, the Watkins’ rented the mill to local millers.

Renamed Dominion Mill, the mill is shown on a 1865 map showing the Civil War of Washington (below). It sits between the Orange & Alexandria Railroad and the turnpike, just south of Fort Williams and north of Cameron Run. When the Union occupied the Alexandria area during the Civil War, Union General Winfield Scott ordered the removal of all trees “within 10 miles of the railroad” to deny the element of surprise to would-be Confederate raiders (Lancaster and Lancaster 1992:89). This barren landscape is captured in a period photograph (right). During the Civil War, the Orange & Alexandria Railroad was the only cargo and passenger line that connected Orange County, Virginia, with ports in Alexandria.

The mid-nineteenth century saw changes in both the mill property and the mill building. In 1866, the Alexandria Water Company rerouted its intake canal to cross the lower part of the mill property. Phoenix Mill’s tailrace now emptied into the Water Company canal rather than into Cameron Run. By 1871, the Alexandria & Fredericksburg Railroad (formerly the Orange & Alexandria Railroad) had condemned part of the mill property for their new right-of-way. This again altered the tailrace for the mill.

Sometime after 1870, a second overshot wheel was added to the mill. Reportedly made by the Jamieson and Collins foundry in Alexandria (Wong 2015), the new metal wheel increased the mill’s output from 35 hp to 80 hp. The land’s value also increased from $1,500 in 1870 to $5,000 in 1878 (Land Tax 1870, 1878).

The Watkins family sold the mill in 1888 to pay estate debts. John Brown purchased the 83 acres that included the mill, then known as Old Dominion Mill, for $6,500 (Fairfax Deeds Book H5:50). Brown defaulted on the deed and the mill was again sold. Frank Hill purchased the mill in 1896 (Chataigne 1888). Like those before him, Hill leased the mill to local millers who oversaw mill operations.

When Hill sold the mill and its land six years later, he appears to have sold the mill building separately. Charles Cockrell purchased the land around the mill and farmed the property (Fairfax Deeds Book L6:659) Newton Carr, who boarded with Cockrell, operated the mill and may have overseen the replacement of the mill’s original wooden wheel in 1909 with a Fitz 1-X-L metal wheel (Census, Population Schedule, Falls Church District 1910:209; Wong 2015).

By 1930 the mill had ceased operation and most of the land Cockrell purchased had been subdivided and sold. The photo (below right) shows the mill and surrounding lands as they appeared in 1927.

Samuel Bell, who at some point had acquired the mill building, purchased two parcels from Cockrell in 1954.
He then sold the combined properties to the Industrial Maintenance Corporation in 1958 (Alexandria Deeds 466:492-493). The Corporation made many changes to the property, including adding a large wing onto the mill building. It may have been around this time that the mill’s head and tail races, still visible in the 1927 photograph (right) were filled and the property paved.

Siena Corporation recently purchased the Phoenix Mill building. They plan to adaptively reuse the mill building, removing the non historic additions and adding landscape elements that will echo the building’s historic past as a grist mill. The mill will again be a reminder of the milling industry that flourished along the banks of Cameron Run less than a century ago.


<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>
<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>

Results of Documentary Study:

Because extended discussions of milling, its technology, and its regional history have been presented in a previous archeological research report (Evans and Williams 2015), site-specific research for the present project has focused primarily on expanding the already robust archival documentation about the history of the Phoenix (Dominion/Brown’s) Mill that was presented in that report. The Phoenix Mill was one of five merchant mill complexes that used the waters of Holmes Run/Cameron Run to provide power. Its history can be understood most clearly by examining the various Northern Virginians who owned the complex from 1789 through the present—for the Phoenix Mill is the only survivor of that once-thriving industry in the Holmes Run watershed. A chain of title for the Phoenix Mill is presented in Table 4.1.

William Hartshorne and George Gilpin:
The Phoenix Mill was built some time before 1789 by William Hartshorne and George Gilpin (Fairfax Deeds Book R-1:353; Wigglesworth 1976/1977:49). Fairfax County land records (Fairfax Deeds Books M-1:143-147, 227, 243, 320; P-1333; Q-1:418; R-1:340, 353) indicate that Gilpin and Hartshorne had begun to assemble the mill property during the 1770s in a series of six land purchases, which included parts of land grants previously owned by Isabella Harrison, John West, Daniel French, and Presley Cox (Mitchell 1977, 1987). In 1789, Gilpin conveyed his half interest in these combined tracts to Hartshorne (Fairfax Deeds Book R-1:351-356). Seven years later, Thomas and Jane Herbert brought a chancery case challenging the accuracy of historic land grant boundaries in the Holmes Run area of Fairfax County against three defendants, one of whom was William Hartshorne. The District Court in Dumfries (Prince William County) ordered a survey of the historic property lines in question; this survey showed, among other things, the locations of Hartshorne’s house and mill, located north and south of the “Turnpike Road” (Figure 4.1) (Fairfax Plats 1797:218-221).

Fire destroyed the mill and its contents in 1801, but Hartshorne quickly rebuilt the structure. Two years later, he insured both the mill and his residence, Strawberry Hill, with the Mutual Assurance Company (Figures 4.2 and 4.3) (Mutual Assurance Company 1803a, b). The merchant mill was “built of Brick and Covered with wood, 40 feet wide by 55 feet long, four Stories high, with 4 pr. of stones.”

Significantly, the Declaration for Assurance noted specifically that the mill was “situated upwards of 20 feet of any Building whatsoever,” a statement that bore directly on its proximity to other buildings that might become involved in a fire. The Declaration of Assurance noted that the true value of the mill (i.e., the cost of replacing it) was $12,000; “being a new Mill,” further reflecting the recent reconstruction episode. The mill reportedly produced not only flour and feed, but also ground lime for plaster (Wong 2015).

Hartshorne apparently had used his mill as collateral for an $11,400 loan from Mordecai Lewis, a resident of Pennsylvania, whom land tax records listed as the sole property owner after 1793 (Fairfax County Land Tax Records 1793-1813). When Hartshorne defaulted on the loan, the property was sold at public auction (Fairfax
Deeds M-2:141-143). The 1812 sale notice in the Alexandria Gazette described the tract as:

“That Valuable new Mill and Farm now occupied by William Hartshorne, known by the name of Strawberry Hill, situated on Holmes’s Run and the Little River Turnpike Road in the County of Fairfax about three miles from Alexandria; the tract contains 236 acres, of which 30 are in young thriving timber, 70 in good meadow,
the greater part of which may be watered from the Creek and Mill Race - and the residue is well improved arable Land. There are on the premises, one peach and two apple orchards, a productive garden of two acres handsomely laid off - A framed dwelling House two stories high, 30 feet by 20 with two wings, a large Kitchen, a pump of good water at the door; Stables, Stone Spring House, &c. Also a large well-finished new Brick Mill 55 feet by 45, four stories high with three pair of large Burr and one pair of country Mill Stones, capable of manufacturing ten thousand barrels of flour annually. The stream is large and constant, and affords a fall sufficient for water wheels 19 feet in diameter.

Thomas Wilson/Benoni Wheat:

Thomas Wilson was the successful bidder for the mill property in 1813. Ten years later, pursuant to a request from his heirs, Wilson’s (now) 204½ acre property, including the mill, was surveyed and partitioned (Fairfax Deeds Book U-2:407, 410A). The survey plat filed in connection with that partition (Figure 4.4) showed not only Wilson’s property, but also adjoining properties and two mill races, of which “Ricketts’ race” supplied water to the Cameron Mills, located further east near the head of the Great Hunting Creek estuary (Williams et al. 2005). The partition agreement awarded the 56-acre “Ph(o)enix” mill property, designated as Lot #2 on the plat, to David and Hannah Wilson and William and Martha Brown. Depositions filed in the chancery case of William Brown and others vs. the heirs of David Wilson (Fairfax County Causes in Chancery: #CFF 4bb) suggest that the Wilsons themselves may not have operated the mill; in an affidavit dated 1837, Joseph Janney testified that he rented the mill from David Wilson “during his (Wilson’s) lifetime.” Given the principal occupation of the subsequent purchaser, Benoni Wheat, an Alexandria merchant (Census, Population Schedule, Alexandria 1850), it also is likely that others operated the mill during the period between 1846
and 1853. For example, the 1850 census listed William Bloxham, a 77-year old English immigrant, as a miller working in the general vicinity of the Phoenix Mill (Census, Population Schedule, Fairfax County 1850:11)

The Watkins family:
In 1854 (again as a result of a public auction), three members of the Watkins family, who also owned several other tracts in the area and at the city’s West End, acquired the mill property (Wilson’s Lot #2) from an interim owner, Peter Trexler. The corresponding Gazette advertisement described the tract as follows:

No.8. The Brick Water Mill, formerly called Phenix Mill, being 2 miles from Alexandria, on the Little River Turnpike, together with 56 acres of land, more or less, subject to a dower of $60 to Mrs. Hannah Wilson. This mill has four run of burrs, and is capable of grinding 100 barrels of flour per day. The Rail Road runs within 50 yards on the South, and the Turnpike on the north and its nearness to the City, renders it desirable to those wishing to engage in milling. Upon the Farm are two comfortable frame dwellings [and] a large Brick Barn and Stable, capable of stabling 20 horses.

Three years later, the Watkins’ bought a contiguous 27 ac parcel, “adjacent to Richard Windsor” (the former Ricketts property). From that point until the twentieth century, these two tracts conveyed as one property.

Although the Watkins family retained control of the mill until the late nineteenth century, they too apparently leased the property to others. For example, the 1860 census indicated that Leonard, John, and Alphus (?) Brown all were employed as millers in this vicinity (Census, Population Schedule, Fairfax County, 1860:70), which may explain why one Civil War map of the area identified the complex as “Brown’s Mill.” On the other hand, Fairfax County Land Tax records through the 1860s suggest that the tenant on the mill property was named Schofield or Scofield, although corresponding census records do not reflect that
fact (Fairfax Land Tax 1861, 1869; Census, Population Schedule, Fairfax County 1860, 1870).

Between 1860 and 1880, when the family lost control of this property, documentary and photographic sources both suggest that the mill and the landscape surrounding it underwent significant changes. When the Union occupied the Alexandria area during the Civil War, properties that adjoined vital transportation links such as the Little River Turnpike and the Orange and Alexandria Railroad (O & A RR) received particular attention (Figures 4.5 and 4.6)(NARA 1861; Balicki and Falk 2008:5) . Because the uninterrupted operation of the railroad was vital to the maintenance of Union supply lines, Union troops patrolled its corridor constantly, and Confederate guerillas harassed its Union defenses. Mary Frobel, who lived across the Cameron Valley from the mill, noted that Union General Winfield Scott ordered the removal of all trees “within 10 miles of the railroad” to deny the element of surprise to would-be Confederate raiders (Lancaster and Lancaster 1992:89). This may explain the treeless landscape shown in the photograph in Figure 4.7. The individual in that photograph was standing southwest of the mill and north of the railroad right-of-way. The frame building in the background at the right margin of the picture appears to be a barn with a southward-facing forebay; it stands directly on the south side of what was then Mill Road.

After the Civil War, Watkins and his associates concluded two other property transactions that resulted in changes to the landscape around the mill. In 1866, they entered into an agreement with the Alexandria Water Company to re-route the trajectory of the latter party’s intake canal (formerly, Ricketts’ mill race for the Cameron Mill) across the lower portion of the Watkins property (Fairfax Deeds Book G-4:142). The wording of this deed is significant, for it demonstrates clearly that, up to this time, the relative positions of
Watkins’ tail race and the head race of the water company’s intake canal had not changed since the Wilson property partition in 1823 (see Figure 4.4). The deed described the new course of the intake canal as beginning at a point located “opposite Watkins’ tail race,” and extending for a distance of 430 yards to rejoin the company’s former canal race. The new intake right-of-way was 30 ft wide, and the realigned race itself measured 12 ft in width. Following this agreement, the Dominion Mills’ tail race now emptied into the headrace that supplied Hunt and Roberts’ Cameron Mill and the Alexandria Water Company’s pumping
station, instead of emptying directly into Holmes/Cameron Run. The general trajectory of most of the tail race, however, continued to coincide almost precisely with the angle of the western boundary of the current project area (Figure 4.8).

Fairfax County court and land records show that Watkins also lost a portion of his mill tract through condemnation proceedings that created the right-of-way for the Alexandria and Fredericksburg Rail Road. A team of court-appointed surveyors visited the property and filed a survey report (Fairfax Deeds Book O-4:168) that estimated the value of the land taken and the collateral damages caused by construction at a total of $1,300. Watkins finally received this payment in June of 1871 (Fairfax Court Minutes 1869-1871). Rail construction across the lower half of the mill tract undoubtedly interfered with, among other things, the mill’s tail race. These modifications, including the railroad’s right of way and the mill’s newly aligned tail race, were depicted most clearly on G. M. Hopkins’ (1894) Map of the Vicinity of Washington, D. C. (Figure 4.9).

The mill itself also may have been upgraded at this time. In 1870, Watkins’ mill was powered by a wheel that generated 35 hp; had a staff of 14 employees (both male and female); and reportedly produced 56,000 bushels of corn meal and 6,325 bushels of mixed feed annually (Census, Products of Industry, Fairfax County, Falls Church Township 1870:2). Tax records showed that the assessed value of the structures on Watkins’ mill property increased significantly between 1861 ($1,000) and 1870 ($1,500). Unfortunately, the reason for the $500 increase between these two years cannot be ascertained, since the tax lists simply recorded building valuations as a lump sum, and did not offer specific building descriptions (Fairfax County Land Tax Records [Land Tax] 1861; 1869-1870).

The next decade produced additional changes. Most importantly, the census returns indicated that the mill’s (now) two overshot wheels were capable of generating 80 hp, although calculating the difference in output is difficult, since the 1880 data were expressed in terms of weight (pounds) instead of volume (bushels or barrels)(Census of Manufactures, Fairfax County 1880:492). Land Tax returns for 1878 also indicated a significant increase in the value of the buildings on the property; in aggregate, they now were assessed at $5,000 (Land Tax 1878). Although the precise reason for the increased property valuation remains unclear, the increased productive capacity of the mill operation may well relate to the installation of the second wheel, which reportedly was fabricated at the Jamieson and Collins foundry in Alexandria (Wong 2015).

John Brown/Frank Hill:
In 1888, David G. Watkins’ heirs were forced to sell the family’s properties to satisfy estate debts. John Brown paid $6,500 for the “Old Dominion” Mill, its water rights, and a total of 83 acres of land (Fairfax Deeds Book H-5:50), but like many previous owners of this property, Brown apparently defaulted on the deed of trust. As a result, Frank M. Hill, a printer who lived on South Lee Street in Alexandria, acquired the mill in 1896 (Chataigne 1888; Census, Population Schedule, Alexandria 1900). Hill himself obviously did not operate the mill, but just who was retained to run the enterprise is unclear. The 1900 census for Falls Church District of Fairfax County listed one “mill laborer” and four millers, one of whom, Walter Roberts, owned the Cameron Mills near Great Hunting Creek (Census 1900; Williams et al. 2005). None of the remaining three millers could be linked specifically to the Dominion operation.

Charles Cockrell:
The last owner to actively operate the Old Dominion Mill and its associated farm acreage was Charles Cockrell, who purchased the complex from Frank Hill in 1903 (Fairfax Deeds Book L-6:659). Cockrell farmed the property, while Newton Carr, who boarded in Cockrell’s household, apparently operated the grist mill (Census, Population Schedule, Falls Church District 1910:209). Further upgrades also were made in the establishment’s equipment when the mill’s remaining older wooden water wheel was replaced in 1909 with a Fitz 1-X-L metal wheel (Wong 2015). However, by the early 1920s, Cockrell, by this time a middle-aged farmer (Census, Population Schedule, Falls Church District 1920, 1930), had begun to subdivide this larger tract. By the 1930s, the Old Dominion Mill reportedly had ceased to produce flour and meal altogether (Wigglesworth 1976:50; Wong 2015).

Two photographic images provide important insights into the development of this parcel during this period. A 1927 aerial photograph (Figure 4.10) appears to show the area south and east of the mill building as cleared but uncultivated, perhaps in use as pasture. A building directly across Mill Road from the mill itself may be the dwelling identified on Hopkins’ 1894 map as “J. Brown’s.” Finally, this photograph clearly shows a rectangular “building shadow” directly on Mill Road northeast of the mill building; it is possible that this building “shadow” relates to the frame barn that was visible in Figure 4.7. The mature trees and small growth that surround the mill in Figure 4.11 contrast sharply with the treeless landscapes shown in Figures 4.6 and 4.7, suggesting that the latter undated photograph may depict the mill—its wooden sluiceway and wheel still intact—after Cockrell ceased active farming in the area.

Culleton/Bell:
The chain of title for the specific mill property is somewhat murky beyond the Cockrell years. Patrick and Kate Culleton purchased one relatively large (3.32 ac) section of the Cockrells’ property in 1922 (Figure 4.12). Culleton, a streetcar motorman, and his wife Kate apparently moved their residence from the District of Columbia (Census, Population Schedule, District of Columbia 1930) to “near the city limits” of Alexandria (Hill Directory Company 1932) and back to D. C. (R. L. Polk and Company 1935), where Patrick Culleton died of prostate cancer in 1938. His widow Kate apparently eventually moved to Bronx County, New York (Fairfax Deeds Book 489:57). However, the metes and bounds of the Culletons’ property identified one of its boundaries as the eastern side of the mill race, and Joseph Berry’s accompanying plat (Figure 4.13) clearly
depicted the “Mill Lot” as lying outside of the Culleton parcel. That being the case, only the southern and western parts of the Culleton property would be included within the boundaries of the present project area. In 1946, Kate Culleton sold the 3.32 acres to V. Floyd Williams, an attorney for the City of Alexandria (Hill Directory Co., Inc 1950:371), who immediately transferred at least part of the property to Raymond and Josephine Gaines of Alexandria (Alexandria Deeds Book 583:289). Samuel J. Bell and his wife Annie acquired a portion of the mill property in 1954, when they purchased part of the Culleton tract.

When Bell conveyed three contiguous parcels to the Industrial Maintenance Corporation four years later, only one of those properties was identified as the “Old Mill,” and it in turn was composed of two separate sub-parcels (Alexandria Deeds 466:492-493). Delineating the explicit metes and bounds of these two small sub-parcels and superimposing them on the 1922 Cockrell/Culleton deed immediately clarified earlier boundary issues. The procedure showed that only the western portion of Culleton’s original purchase was included in the “Old Mill” tract as sub-parcel #2, while Bell’s sub-parcel #1 encompassed the site of the standing mill structure (Figure 4-13). Bell does not appear to have acquired the mill site as part of the Culleton tract; it is unknown when he purchased the mill parcel.

Two subsequent changes were recorded for the “Old Mill” property. One of these involved taking land along the right-of-way of Wheeler Avenue (formerly Mill Road) to realign and widen it. More significant, in terms of the property’s archeological potential, was a 1963 deed that granted a perpetual easement to the City of Alexandria for the purpose of installing storm and sanitary sewer lines. The easement incorporated a strip of land, 15 ft (4.57 m) wide and approximately 303.5 ft (92.5 m) long, that extends north-south through the present property (Alexandria Deeds Book 576:381). That easement, which is shown on current engineering plans, has most likely negatively affected any archeological resources that may have been present within the easement area.

Current Conditions:
The property occupied by the Phoenix Mill is fully developed. It contains the mill building and its attached twentieth century addition, a large storage building along the western property line, and supporting infrastructure including gasoline and air/water pumps (Figure 4.14). With the exception of a grass strip that contains the air/water pumps, the entire property is paved and serves as a large surface parking lot. A series of concrete-walled material storage bins are located along the southern edge of the property; the bins are fenced from the ezStorage self-storage facility property and appear to be associated with a stockyard located on the adjacent CSX Railroad property.

The mill building stands in the northwestern corner of the property, adjacent to Wheeler Avenue (Figure 4.15). It has an attached cement block addition that includes three service bays and two pedestrian doors on the eastern side and additional service bay on the western side (Figure 4.16). The addition extends along the eastern and southeastern portions of the building and is two stories in height. The rear of the addition abuts the historic mill building near the building mid point at the entrance to the current basement of the building (Figure 4.17). The former location of a door or other opening is visible in Figure 4.18 behind the fire hydrant and near the south western corner of the building; the opening has been bricked over. The opening does not appear in nineteenth century photographs of the building, which indicate the rear elevation had only two windows on the first floor of the building and both were located on the eastern side of the building. The opening most likely was added during the twentieth century then later closed when the current basement opening was added.

The landscape around the mill building has been cut and filled to form the modern landscape. The terrain slopes gradually to moderately down toward the southern end of the property, with the most noticeable changes in elevation occurring around the mill building and in the location of the former mill race, which would have extended along the western edge of the building (Figure 4.19). The upper edge of the arched brick piercing indicating the early nineteenth century location of the mill wheel is visible along the side of the building at the level of the existing asphalt pavement (Figure 4.20). The wooden wheel was situated within a wheel pit located near the southwestern corner of the building. It would have received water through an elevated wooden flume that directed the flow from the mill race and along the eastern side of the mill structure (see Figure 4.7). The configuration of the mill structure changed slightly during the late nineteenth century when the wheel was moved closer to the northwestern corner of the building (see Figure
4.11).

A rear support structure is located along the southwestern property line sits in the likely location of the mill tailrace (Figure 4.21). The structure is a one-story brick and cement block building that includes loading platforms and pedestrian doors on its eastern side and an additional loading platform on its northern side.
At some point, both garage-type loading doors on the eastern platform were enclosed. Immediately north of the rear structure is a large surface parking lot (Figure 4.22). Although the lot is relatively level it is noticeably lower in elevation than Wheeler Avenue and the adjoining parcel to the west. This elevation difference is illustrated best along the western edge of the property, where a series of air/water pumps occupy a sloping strip of grass that also contains the concrete foundation for a storage bin (Figures 4.23 and 4.24). A paved service road extends behind the grass strip and along the property edge.

Two gasoline pumps are located in the northeastern corner of the property, near Wheeler Avenue (Figure 4.25). They are set in a concrete pad and are likely to include underground storage tanks. A second concrete pad east of the gasoline pumps may also have contained pumps and could also indicate the location of underground storage tanks. In addition to these potential subsurface disturbances, a utility easement that contains four existing storm and sanitary sewer line crosses through the center of the property, between Wheeler Avenue and the CSX right-of-way. An existing 10 inch sanitary sewer line enters the southwestern corner of the property to connect to one of the four storms and sanitary sewer lines within the easement; this line extends beneath the southwestern (rear) corner of the support structure.

Archeological Assessment:
The Phoenix Mill was built some time before 1789 by William Hartshorne and George Gilpin. Fairfax County land records (Fairfax Deeds Books M-1:143-147, 227, 243, 320; P-1333; Q-1:418; R-1:340, 353) indicate that
Gilpin and Hartshorne had begun to assemble the mill property during the 1770s in a series of six land purchases. Fire destroyed the mill and its contents in 1801, but Hartshorne quickly rebuilt the structure. Declaration of Assurance (1803) for the new four-story stone mill structure indicated it was located 20 ft (6.1 m) from the nearest building. In 1866, the tailrace was shortened to empty into the newly constructed headrace for the Hunt and Roberts’ Cameron Mills and the Alexandria Water Company pumping station. A second wheel may have been installed on the mill during the 1880s to increase its productivity. The mill remained operational into the second decade of the twentieth century. Early twentieth century photographs indicate the land around the mill was farmed and that the mill building may have been left to deteriorate after it ceased production.

Historically undeveloped areas have the highest potential for intact archeological sites related to prehistoric or early historic activity. Prehistoric activity along the Cameron Run drainage includes occupation by Late Archaic peoples, as well as later Woodland cultures. These occupations and activities extended into the historic period and, as a result, many archeological sites have been recorded in the area reflecting the long and short term use of this portion of Alexandria by Native American groups. Late twentieth century commercial development within the Cameron Stream Valley, including that within the present project area, generally has involved moderate to severe disturbance of earlier landscapes. Disturbances such as these have significantly diminished the prehistoric archeological potential of this area.

The current condition of the property indicate extensive cutting and filling as occurred in the conversion of the property from a functioning grist mill to its current commercial use. The majority of these activities appear to have occurred during the mid-twentieth century and to have included excavations within the property to install municipal and private utilities and underground storage tanks. The City of Alexandria received an easement for installation of storm and sanitary sewer lines across the property in 1963; this easement is depicted on modern plats and contains four storm and sanitary sewer lines. An additional easement allowed the realignment and widening of Wheeler Avenue, decreasing the original road frontage of the property.

Although historic photographs indicate the land sloped gradually down toward Cameron Run, the modern landscape does not have that same gradual contour. It slopes dramatically down from Wheeler Avenue and from the adjacent eastern property; these areas appear to have been cut and filled to achieve that contour. The large surface parking lot that covers the property also appears to have been cut. Soil borings indicate that up to 12.5 ft (3.81 m) of fill material has been deposited beneath the surface parking lot to achieve the present grade. The current level of the asphalt surface compared to the location of the piercing for the mill wheel shaft suggests that at least three feet of fill material covers the upper extent of the wheel pit in that location. Soil borings confirm that at least five feet of fill material has been deposited along Wheeler Avenue adjacent to the mill building.

A review of available historic documents, previous cultural resources surveys conducted in the vicinity of the project area, client-provided geotechnical data, and client-provided data on current conditions indicate the project area has suffered moderate to severe subsurface disturbance from past historic development activities. Although the historic Phoenix Mill is located on the property, the land adjacent to the mill has been deeply cut and filled to create the current landscape. Geotechnical studies indicate between 5-12.5 ft (1.52-3.81 m) of fill material overlie subsoil deposits within the project area. While fill material has the potential to preserve archeological resources, the fill material extends significantly below the natural surface grade. Due to the aggressive nature of this disturbance, it is unlikely that significant prehistoric or historic deposits related to the pre-modern development of the property remain.