Hollingsworth Mill

HISTORY

This stone mill, located next to the Abrahm’s Delight house, was built in 1833 by David Hollingsworth, the great-grandson of Abraham Hollingsworth, Frederick County’s first settler. Abraham, who died in 1748, operated one of the county’s first gristmills and passed the business on to his son, Isaac.

The mill was sold in 1870 to Ober & Sons, which operated a phosphate or fertilizer factory there. In 1884, it became a creamery operated by E. R. Thatcher and John V. Tavenner. The City of Winchester bought the mill and neighboring spring in 1890. The mill became a pumping station and the spring was used as the city’s main water supply until 1956, when Winchester began drawing water from the North Fork of the Shenandoah River. The spring was renamed Rouss Spring for philanthropist Charles Broadway Rouss, who donated thirty thousand dollars for the water project.

The city renovated the building in 1987. The visitor center occupied the mill for twenty years. The Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society offices are on the second floor of the mill. A gift shop and exhibit space occupy the first floor.