When Peter Nininger built this brick mill on Tinker Creek in 1847, he was continuing a milling tradition in Botetourt County that began with the county’s first settlers. Beside the Pittsylvania-Franklin-Botetourt Turnpike, which connected the farmlands of western Virginia with bustling Southside markets, the mill operated for decades as a quasi-public utility, offering one of the rural economy’s most important services. Like most of Virginia’s old gristmills, Nininger’s Mill was forced out of business because of an inability to compete with the modern milling complexes. The mill was converted to a restaurant in 1968, but some of the original machinery was preserved. The structure went on to serve as a private residence. A late-19th century overshot metal wheel remains in place on the north wall of Nininger’s Mill.