This is a painting of Cloverdale Mills by Thelma Burton Evans (1925-2009). It was donated to the Botetourt Museum of History & Culture in Fincastle by Ann Burton and is displayed with other mills upstairs.
Mills were centers of community as well as industrial operations. They were plentiful throughout Virginia along waterways and thoroughfares. Corn and wheat were ground with waterwheels and millstones. The flour or meal was used for baking or sold by the farmers who also had to pay the mill.
The Cloverdale Mills was located on the corner of Lee Highway (Rt. 11) and Updike Road. It was built shortly after 1787, but burned in 1968. The bricks and stones are still visible. It was built on Cloverdale Furnace land and a VDOT Department of Historic Resources sign is across the road. It states, “Robert Harvey established an agricultural and industrial complex here about 1790 that processed iron ore.” Botetourt history is plentiful if one knows where to look.
~ Botetourt County Museum of History & Culture
