Milling operations were conducted at this Swift Creek site in Chesterfield County from the mid-17th-century into the 1950s. The present brick Swift Creek Mill structure dates mostly from 1852 when the property was acquired by the Swift Creek Manufacturing Company, but its massive stone foundations may incorporate fabric of the original mill erected by Henry Randolph ca. 1660. Civil War action centered around the mill on May 10, 1864, when Gen. Benjamin Butler attempted a crossing of Swift Creek in a move against Gen. George Pickett’s Confederate troops on the north bank. In 1964, the building was adapted into a restaurant and playhouse, preserving much original fabric including three large grinding stones in their original casings. Adjacent to the Swift Creek Mill is a mid-19th-century mill store, a rare surviving example of this type of ancillary structure.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia