Dating from the mid-1760s, this simple storehouse, built for the factor James Mills, is a rare example of a colonial commercial structure run by a resident factor of a British company. At such an establishment, tobacco, instead of being consigned directly to England, was sold to the factor, who sent it abroad as trade for English goods to be bought by the local planters. Mills and his employers were Scottish, as were many of the merchants active in Virginia’s early tobacco trade. After serving various uses, the James Mills Storehouse was purchased by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (now Preservation Virginia) in 1938 and restored to its colonial appearance in the 1960s. Located in Middlesex County’s Urbanna Historic District, the James Mills Storehouse was long used as the town library and in 1997 was acquired by the Town of Urbanna for use as a visitors’ center.