Historic Earthworks Along Fox Mill Road

If you've driven down Fox Mill Road since VDOT started the repaving project, you may have noticed that a section of the shoulder between Waples Mill Road and Bronzedale Drive has been flagged with yellow tape. This tape marks the location of historic earthworks that are in the VDOT right-of-way. These earthworks are part of a mill site called Fox’s Lower Mill, which dates back to the late 1780s. Most of the 4-acre mill site is private property, although some of the land belongs to the Fairfax County Park Authority.

Fox’s Lower Mill was the second mill site developed by Amos Fox. The Upper Mill site is one-quarter mile upstream on Difficult Run and was developed in the late 1760s. After the Civil War, Fox’s Upper Mill site was purchased by George Waple. The old mill was reconstructed and became known as Waple’s Mill. This site is now owned by FCPA. There is a small parking area, surrounded by bamboo, at the junction of Fox Mill and Waples Mill Roads where visitors can stop to explore the tranquil landscape that was once a bustling mill site.

Researching local history has been a hobby of mine for the past five years and during that time I have learned a small bit of the Fox family history. The earthworks at Fox’s Lower Mill site, which are easily visible from Fox Mill Road during the winter months, are intriguing and I was asked to consider working on a proposal to nominate the site for a historic highway marker. This past February, I learned that Jim Lewis, of the Hunter Mill Defense League, was also interested in the history of Fox’s mills. We teamed up and studied topographic maps and historic aerial photographs. Then, armed with a detailed map drawn in the 1980s by George Waple III, we set out to explore the mill sites. The first day we spent about five hours tromping through the Difficult Run stream valley. What are the chances that the ONLY person we met all day was George Waple III's nephew, Hugh Waple, Jr.? What's more amazing is that this was the first time in 20 years that Hugh had visited the mill site!

The research for this project continues but I’ve posted some photos from my explorations.