Valley Mill

Several water-powered mills operated along Paint Branch as early as 1723. In the 1790s, Peter Kemp built a saw and grist mill and a brick miller's cottage on this site. Two later mills replaced the original in the nineteenth century. The first, built in 1835 by Dr. Washington Duvall, became the leading producer of corn meal in Montgomery County by mid-century. In 1879, Franklin Pilling built the mill known as Valley Mill. He replaced the old water wheel with a more efficient Poole and Hunt turbine, part of which remains. As milling became centralized in the Midwest in the late 1800s, many small mills declined economically. Valley Mill ceased operating by 1930.

Colesville, Maryland · United States