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Rappahannock land tax books recorded an increase in the property's building's value to $1,900. The assessment had been $850, unchanged since 1820, the first year in which such information was included.
A deed in 1846, which cleared the land title, states that the mill was occupied by Garner E. Burgess, who purchased the mill from Cheek four years later. Burgess probably served as resident miller for Pendleton and Mason, before his employment by Cheek, who then moved to Tennessee.
John Jett bought the mill property from Burgess in 1855-57, at which time it became known as Jett’s Mill. Jett added $1,500 worth of improvements in 1860, raising the value of the property to $3,000. The mill remained in Jett’s possession throughout the Civil War and is thought to have served as a neutral trading post for both Northern and Southern partisans.
Similar in plan to most of the water-powered grist mills built in Virginia during the first half of the 19th century, Washington Mill operated for decades as a quasi-public utility, constituting one of the most important services in the rural economy of Rappahannock County.
The variety of surviving mechanical apparatus is indicative of the engineering skills required of 19thcentury millers such as the Garwoods and Burgess. Among the surviving flour milling equipment on the site are the main gear, a wooden conveyor paddle system, a long wooden sifter, a pin wheel, numerous wooden gears and rods, and a lever.
Following the Civil War
76.4%