King Wheat, Millwood & The Burwell-Morgan Mill

King Wheat, Millwood and The Burwell-Morgan Mill. . , Wheat farming and flour milling were the backbone of the Clarke County economy for more than 150 years. Throughout those years, we were home to at least 60 mills and tiny Clarke County contributed mightily to the Shenandoah Valley's mid-19th-century reputation as the "breadbasket of America.", Nearby Millwood is a unique living history of this early Shenandoah Valley and American milling experience. It is home to two restored sister mills, both built by Nathaniel Burwell, master of the Carter Hall plantation; one as a merchant mill, the other a plantation mill. Five hundred yards apart, both were powered by a spring-fed and constantly flowing Spout Run., Today, the Burwell-Morgan Mill is a working 18th-century colonial-era merchant mill owned by the Clarke County Historical Association. Weather permitting, it is open to the public and operating weekends from mid-May to Thanksgiving. The Mill at Carter Hall, the plantation mill, is privately owned and not operational. Both are on the Greenway District Historic Driving tour (see adjacent panel)., [Captions:] , Nathaniel Burwell (1750-1814) Master of Carter Hall. (Photo courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation), The Mill at Carter Hall , Constructed in the late 1790s. (Photo courtesy Jennifer Lee), From here take Main Street west to 2nd light. Make a left onto 340 and go south 3 miles to a left on Va. Route 255. Go 3 miles to Millwood., Flat boats floating barrels of flour down the Shenandoah to Harpers Ferry, where the cargo was transferred to barges on the C&O canal for transport to Georgetown, and on by ship to the West Indies and Europe., The Burwell Morgan Mill (Photo courtesy of Stephen Lee)