The Clermont Foundation
PO Box 32, Millwood, VA 22646
bstieg@msn.com
website: www.clermontfarm.org
MEDIA RELEASE
From:
Bob Stieg, CEO, The Clermont Foundation
540-837-2790
Date:
9-30-11
Large, Unique Artifact Arrives at Clermont
On Monday, October 3, the remains of an excavated, very rare style of
horizontal water wheel will be brought from storage in Richmond to
Clermont Farm, an 18th century historic site in Clarke County owned by
the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
The Department of Historic Resources (DHR), which owns Clermont, has asked the
Clermont Foundation which manages the site to arrange storage and exhibition for
the Woolf's Mill Tub Wheel, one of the largest and most unique artifacts in the
Department’s collection of hundreds of thousands of items.
A tub wheel is a horizontal water wheel, used to power a grist mill. These
archaeological artifacts include partial conserved remains of the wooden tub
and wooden-bladed wheel, about eight feet square, the water supply box (forebay)
about ten foot by six foot, and the flume to carry the water between them.
This horizontal power train was located in the basement of the mill, with an iron axle
running from the center axis of the tub wheel straight up into the first floor of the
mill, where it was connected through gears to the mill stones and machinery.
Water came in from the creek through a headrace to the mill, where it plunged down
into the basement and into the forebay box, from which a narrowing flume forced
the water into the turbine box. The water rapidly turned the paddles on the turbine
and was discharged out through a hole in the bottom center of the tub and out
through a tail race under the lower wall of the mill, back into the creek. All of this
occurred under substantial pressure.
While horizontal water wheels are recorded in Virginia as early as 1733 (Loudoun
County), this is the first and only water wheel of its type ever excavated in Virginia.
It came from Woolf's Mill in Fauquier County, on Goose Creek, on Paul Mellon's
estate. The mill was built about 1798, but it burned in 1829, and was rebuilt in
1832, at which time it is believed this tub wheel style of mill power was installed.
The mill ceased operation about 1900, and in 1925 the upper stories of the mill were
dismantled and the remains left to deteriorate. In 1985, after conducting an
archaeological survey of his estate, Mr. Mellon commissioned what became a five
year excavation of the site of Woolf's Mill. In 1988 the remains of the tub wheel
itself, the forebay water supply box, and the flume were discovered in the former
basement of the mill.
As they were such a unique archaeological discovery in Virginia, Mr. Mellon donated
them to the state Department of Historic Resources, to whose labs they were
removed, and he paid for their complete conservation, as is done with ancient
wooden ships raised from the water. Because of their size, they were
subsequently stored in a Richmond warehouse which is no longer available, hence
the need to move them.
Besides wanting to store these artifacts on its own property, DHR wished to have
them in a place where they could be studied in relation to other applications of 18 th
and 19th century timber framing techniques, and in the context of other historical
mills of different types.
At Clermont, many parts of the old house and service buildings are constructed with
heavy timber frames (like a barn). This water wheel system for a mill is also
constructed using heavy timber frame techniques, and at Clermont these early
building techniques can be compared in their various uses. The mill power system
and its framing will also be studied in the context of the Burwell-Morgan mill, still
operating in Millwood, VA, and owned by the Clarke County Historical Association.
The archaeological remains of the Woolf’s Mill are also a reminder of the fact that
Clermont, as a champion grain-producing farm, was always enmeshed in a larger
economic world of mills, markets, transportation, and ports
Clermont is currently in an initial five year study period, and is not open to the
public, except for its annual HarvFest day on the third Saturday in June. The study,
and a plan for the use and interpretation of the site, are expected to be complete in
about a year’s time, when public access will be increased.
Website: www.clermontfarm.org