NCGUILFO-L Archives

From: MS LOUISE T OVERTON< >
Subject: [NCGUILFO] #10 Old Mill Sites in Rockingham Co
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999 09:10:01, -0500

Part #10

This post includes the surnames of MacLAMROC, PATRICK, ALCORN, WRIGHT,
TALLEY, BAKER, HOWERTON, HOPKINS, GRIFFIN, SHREVE

Mill Sites in Simpsonville Township
Rockingham Co. NC

IRON WORKS Mill (site) is located on Troublesome Creek, NC State Road 2423,
approximately 1.5 miles north of Monroeton. In operation as early as 1770.
************************************************************

Bill GRIFFIN operated the Iron Works sawmill by water power for a few years
beginning about 1920. The race was divided so both the sawmill and mill
could operate independently; however there was insufficient water to
operate both at the same time. Either J.R. SHREVE or Zilmon GRIFFIN
attempted to increase the volume of water by raising the dam eighteen
inches with dirt and rock. As the timber upstream was cut the lake
continued to silt with mud. The problem became so bad that during the
1920's a turbine was installed. Iron Works was frequently used by churches
as a place for baptisms. Probably the largest ever held there was in
October 1927 when after a revival, over forty people from a Reidsville
church were baptized. The "baptizing hole" was not in the lake, but in the
creek behind the mill.

By World War 11 there was often insufficient water to operate the turbine,
and during the war a large motor was installed to operate the mill. Shortly
after the war ended the milling operations at the Iron Works ceased. Some
of the millers from the 1920's into the 1940's included Mr ALCORN, Mr
WRIGHT, Frank TALLEY, Reuben BAKER and his father-in-law Mr HOWERTON and
"Shorty" HOPKINS

In September 1954 after two drought condition summers the GRIFFIN heirs
allowed the City of Reidsville to break the dam to obtain drinking water.
The GRIFFIN heirs sold the Iron Works property at auction in October 1968.
In December 1968 the third Iron Works Mill on the site burned to the
ground. The house built by James PATRICK in 1833/4 burned on 29 October
1976. The Iron Works property was purchased by Colonel James G. W.
MacLAMROC of Guilford County in 1968.

Sources:
Rockingham Deeds Book 149 page 112 ....Book 173 page 12,... Book 183 pages
36, 179, 224, 293, and Book 200 page 194
"Flames From Old Mill Light Page In History" Greensboro Daily News Dec. 16,
1968
"Troublesome Iron Works Has A History of Woes" Winston Salem Journal And
Sentinel
The Reidsville Review: March 13, 1959, October 6, 1954, Nov 2, 1976,
December 16, 1968

This ends the Iron Works Mill History in Simpsonville Township, Rockingham
County.....

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• [NCGUILFO] #10 Old Mill Sites in Rockingham Co by MS LOUISE T OVERTON< >