Kline's Mill, Virginia

Kline's Mill, Virginia
Kline's Mill, Virginia
Historic site
	Kline's Mill Kline's Mill
	Coordinates: 39°02′50″N 78°14′25″W / 39.04722°N 78.24028°W
Country	United States
State	Virginia
County	Frederick
Time zone	UTC−5
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4
GNIS feature ID	1499634

Kline's Mill is a historic grinding mill in Frederick County, Virginia, United States. First built in the 1770s, the rebuilt 1794 mill^[2] contains original millwork and is a rare surviving example of a mechanism based on Oliver Evans' continuous milling system.

History

The original mill was constructed in the 1770s by German immigrant Jacob Kline^[a] as a flax seed mill.^[4] It was then rebuilt and enlarged in 1794 by Jacob and his son Anthony Kline as a flour mill, with Anthony constructing the wooden mechanism.^[4]^[5] Anthony was known in the community as a cabinetmaker and constructed all the woodwork in the mill by hand. When the mill was rebuilt, living space for Anthony's family was included in the 1790s version; those now-anomalous fireplaces remain within the mill. The family lived in the mill until 1820, when they moved into a brick house that had been built nearby.^[3] The mill is a unique remaining artifact of the United States industrial past as seen in the Society of Architectural Historians' Archipedia, which said "a mill with its original machinery, in this case based on the Oliver Evans system, is rare."^[2]

The mill and the surviving community structures including the former post office, general store, and mill managers' houses are located on the present Ridings Mill Road near the former intersection of Klines Mill Road (Virginia Route 633) and Ridings Mill Road (Virginia Route 709) east of Interstate 81.^[6] The mill is the subject of a P. Buckley Moss print called "Whispers of Our Past".^[7]

Little more than a plain address in 2022, Kline's Mill was a populated place at one time in Virginia history with a cemetery,^[b]^[9] multiple dwellings and businesses^[3] including a community post office^[10]^[5]^[6] and general store.^[3]^[11] Former residents, speaking of growing up in the greater Mill community, later characterized it as "the first shopping mall in the county" and a place to walk to for Saturday grocery-shopping.^[3] The Virginia Department of Historic Resources Rural Landmarks Survey says that Kline's Mill is "the finest eighteenth- and nineteenth-century mill/industrial complex in the county."^[10] Though the mill did not figure in the region's Civil War battles, local lore has "the Yankees coming through and taking the pillow slips off the beds at the house and filling them with meal for the soldiers."^[3]

Notes

^ In some sources, Jacob's last name is spelled as Klein. The son Anthony changed the family's surname to "Kline".^[3]
^ A survey was done in October 1936 of the "Graveyard at Kline's Mill". Two headstones with inscriptions are mentioned – the millworks-maker Anthony Kline (1777–1859) and his wife Jemima (d. 1858).^[8]

References

^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Kline's Mill, Virginia
^ ^a ^b Lee, Anne Carter (18 June 2018). "Kline's Mill". Archipedia. Society of Architectural Historians. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f McCarty, Linda (July 28, 1988). "Milling around – 200-year-old Kline's Mill was a commercial hub". The Winchester Star. pp. 1, 4.
^ ^a ^b Cartmell, Thomas Kemp (1909). Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and Their Descendants: A History of Frederick County, Virginia (illustrated) from Its Formation in 1738 to 1908. Eddy Press Corporation. p. 485. ISBN 9780722246306.
^ ^a ^b Tyler, Lyon Gardiner (1915). Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Under the Editorial Supervision of Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Volume 5. Lewis historical publishing Company. p. 893. Retrieved October 5, 2022. Kline's Mill ... was built in 1794 by Jacob Kline, whose son, Anthony ... did a great deal of the work and made most of the machinery in it
^ ^a ^b Quarles, Garland Redd (1971). Some Old Homes in Frederick County, Virginia. p. 185.
^ Moss, P. Buckley. "Kline Mill – Whispers of Our Past". Retrieved October 5, 2022. Kline Mill shows the Oliver Evan Kline Mill, located south of Winchester, Virginia. The mill is perhaps the best example of a mill that operates on the "Evan's [sic] System" and the original machinery, first installed in 1795, remains undisturbed since the last days of operation.
^ VanMeter, Robert G. (October 1936). "Frederick County Va – Cemeteries – Kline's Mill Cemetery". US GenWeb/Library of Virginia Digital Collection. Retrieved October 9, 2022. There are several graves unmarked and some have ordinary stone markers, with no inscriptions. ... There are only two inscriptions of early dates, and two of recent dates. ... Historical Significance: In Memory of Anthony Kline Who was born July 12th 1777 And died March 17th 1859 ... In Memory of Jemima Kline Who died January 12th 1858 in the 78th year of her age
^ History of Virginia, Volume 5. The American Historical Society. 1924. p. 193. Retrieved October 9, 2022. family burial ground on the old homestead ...
^ ^a ^b "Virginia State DHS Frederick County Rural Landmarks Survey" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Retrieved October 5, 2022. The complex of buildings at Kline's Mill 34-160 includes: the log and stone mill, two brick miller's houses, a board and batten building used as a post office and several farm outbuildings. The mill, which is log on a raised stone basement, was constructed in 1794 and is one of the few in the area that survived the Civil War.
^ History of Virginia, Volume 5. The American Historical Society. 1924. p. 193. Retrieved October 9, 2022. These brothers conducted a store ... and had a wide trade from the neighboring farmers.