The Mill House Museum, Yesterday and Today

The Occoquan Merchants Mill was purchased in 1788 by Lighthorse Harry Lee, father of Robert E. Lee. By 1791 it had been rebuilt by Thomas Ellicott using the patented design of Ellicott's cousin, Oliver Evans. Letters dated that year indicated that George Washington had shown interest in the automated design for his own mill. The Occoquan Mill was eventually sold to Nathaniel Ellicott, brother of Thomas Ellicott. Insurance purchased in 1796 by Nathaniel Ellicott documented the mill as being 45 feet wide and 75 feet long from the street to the river. The mill was then sold to the Janney family, who owned it for more than 100 years. The miller's office, which was adjacent to the mill, is the only building left of the original mill structures and is now the home of the Mill House Museum. The photograph below show the relationship in size and placement of the mill and the museum structure on the riverbank.

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Pictures of Occoquan and the mill dating from the late 19th century show the miller's office which is the building we now use as the Mill House Museum.

19th century mill office and today the Mill House Museum.

Given in memory of Walter D. Bailey, Historian and Educator, by his family.

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