Milling

For more than sixty years the Greenbrier Milling Company has been in existence. This mill started in the 1890’s. On October 7, 1901 the Town Council minutes show the Greenbrier Milling Company made application to build a three story flour mill measuring 65 feet by 45 feet. In the account of the electric power development in Alderson is detailed how the Greenbrier Milling Company produced the first electricity in Alderson. For years, the mill operated the water pump that furnished the town’s water. The Johnson family operated the mill for more than a generation. This was a steam-powered mill and was the largest grain mill which ever operated in the Alderson community. The mill is presently a feed and fertilizer store.

Grain, sawmills and woolen mills have been important in the early development of American communities and Alderson is no exception. Herman Boye’s Map of Virginia, 1828, shows four mills on Muddy Creek. The first mill on Muddy Creek was operated by a member of the Alderson family. There was a grain mill at Palestine in 1856 as shown in an old road survey report. The same survey mentions William Woolwine’s sawmill on Griffith's Creek. An old newspaper mentions the big fire which destroyed Mohler’s Sawmill in lower Alderson in 1881, evidently near the present Quillen Mill. A. J. Jones built two mills on Muddy Creek. The first was about a fourth mile below the present mill. The present mill, located next to the Palestine bridge, was built in 1912. This was a roller mill and had three floors of machinery powered by a water turbine with water from a dam on the creek above the mill from which a race carried water to the turbine. This mill was made of 2" X 6" solid chestnut timbers. The mill went out of business about 20 or 25 years ago but still stands.

The Bright mill was a steam powered grain mill on the river a short distance above the bridge. The details of this mill are not available.

Next: Livestock Market

The contents contained in this series is copyrighted and the sole property of The Greenbrier Historical Society - Lewisburg, WV
Used by permission - November 18, 2008