Roberson Mill Holds Fall Festival
-The following first appeared in Floyd Times on September 24, 2025.
Friends of Roberson Mill hosted a Fall Festival on Saturday that included tours of the mill (at 1367a Roberson Mill Rd), a silent auction fundraiser, a community pot luck meal, music by George Slusher and Eric Reese and storytelling, Mc’d by Ricky Cox, a local educator, folklorist and musician.
Built in the 1880s by John W. Epperly, the water powered grist mill was owned by the Roberson family from 1931 to the recent present when it was named on the current registry of National Historic Places and received non-profit status.
Renovation of the Mill began in 2020 with the clearing out of stuff that was stored in it, recalled Regina Roberson Cox, the board chairman of FORM and granddaughter and daughter of the late Homer and Harry Roberson, who between them owned and ran the Mill till the mid ‘80s.
With a goal of restoring the mill back into operation as a living history museum and an educational facility open to the public for tours and demonstrations, FORM enlisted the help of hired professionals and volunteers to make the renovations, which so far have included repairing the foundation and exterior framing, replacing the roof, siding, windows and repairing damaged areas of the interior flooring. Today, the mill has a parking lot, funded by the Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway, and a porch.
“We wanted a place where people could come and sit because mills were once the center of the community before general stores,” said Jeff Rainey, VP of the FORM board with a background in milling and historic preservation who is restoring the workings of the mill. “Farmers would come here and get their grain ground and then talk about grain prices and all kinds of things,” he added.
Rainey, who is from Great Fall Virginia, gave tours inside the mill during the event. He spoke of the common mill design of the day and the simple machines going back to the Greeks that would move the grain in the process of milling through every floor of the building.
He referenced the familiar saying, ‘keep your nose to the grindstone,’ pointing out that a miller had to carefully pay attention to a number of things. “He had to listen. He had to know the sound of the stone, the sound of the elevator system, the sound of every gear. If he smelled something burning, he would have to adjust the stones right away.” Mills were prone to catching fire and even blowing up, he told the crowd of listeners.
The mill’s wheel became non-operable by 1973. “But daddy ran it through electric means after that,” Cox said. “When restoration grading took place, the plan was to salvage the wheel, but it was beyond repair,” she added.
“We plan to get a wheel. We want the mill operational. We need to raise more money to get that done, and we need a pump station to pump water and power it. There are a number of things on our agenda,” Rainey said.
Attendees enjoyed a potluck meal and visiting along Dodd Creek. Inside the mill building there was memorabilia, photographs and displays of mill equipment to browse through. Items for sale included mill t-shirts and a book written by Cox, titled Roberson Mill Preserving our Heritage.
“I am grateful for all the community who came out Saturday to tour the mill and learn about the restoration plans.” Cox later said, noting that people can visit the mill on Fridays and Saturdays for 11 – 4pm throughout the fall. – Colleen Redman