Colvin Run Mill, Virginia

Colvin Run Mill is in Great Falls, Virginia. It was built around and is the sole surviving operational 19th-century water-powered mill in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Its restored mechanism is a nationally significant example of automated technologies pioneered in milling and later adopted across American industry. The site includes the miller's house, the mill, general store, and a barn with a display about the mill history. 

In 1883, Addison Millard moved his family here when he bought the old mill. Addison, his wife Emma, and some of their 20 children lived there. Having 20 kids is certainly one way to keep a steady stream of workers for the mill.  When Addison died, the family stayed and operated the mill until 1934. After the Millard family left in 1934, the mill was abandoned.  The construction for Leesburg Pike cut off the water source for the mill that began in 1933. I'm not sure when the stretch by the mill was begun. The mill was later acquired by the Fairfax County Park Authority, repaired, and made open to the public in 1972. Since then various pieces have been repaired with some even happening the past few years to make it fully functional. 

We visited the mill to see the maple syrup cookdown demonstration.  They have several of the maple trees tapped on the site.  It takes 40 gallons of sap to make just one small bottle of syrup.  It starts as a clear liquid, but as the boil down goes through it turns the typical brown color.  The darkness of the color depends on what time of the season the sap was collected.  Later in the season yields a darker color.