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BY BILL KOSSLER
Rappahannock
News Writer
As the years progress, and time and nature take their toll, sometimes even the most venerable and storied old buildings pass away. Fletcher’s Mill is as recognizable and renowned a landmark as any in the county. The beautiful old mill, by the corner of 522 and the mill’s namesake road, has passed through many vicissitudes in its long life but now succumbs to age.
Owner John Ford is in the process of partially tearing down the mill. His family informs us that there are one or more springs flowing up through part of the foundation, causing the sort of damage you would expect from water on wood over many years. If nothing were done, the building would gradually become more unstable. At the same time, the Fords have determined that the damage is much too extensive to simply repair. Even if they somehow made this possible, there would still be water flowing up, ready to cause new damage.
So what will happen now? They plan to tear down the most damaged half, with perhaps a terrace and boxwood garden on the remains of the old foundation. The other half they hope to restore, and convert to some use, such as living quarters.
Fletcher’s Mill was the last grand old water powered mill in Rappahannock to close down. It’s been known by that name since the Civil War, but dates back at least to 1819, and possibly a number of years earlier.
The Fletcher family owned and operated the mill from after the Civil War until its last year of operation in 1956. Its current decline dates back at least to flood damage in 1979.
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