This stone manor and mill were built in 1778 by Jeremiah Dungan on property purchased from the Watauga Association. It was taxed in 1779 by North Carolina in the first year the state levied a property tax. Dungan's family ground grain until 1866, at which time they sold the mill to George W. St. John. The mill has been operated by the St. John family since that time. In 1996, during Tennessee's Bicentennial celebration, the mill was honored as the state's oldest business, with more than 200 years of continuous operation.