Colvin Run Mill Park and Village

Two people hiking end-to-end on the trail, starting at Colvin Run Mill.

Colvin (Carper's) Mill, now part of Colvin Run Mill Park, operated as a mill by Fairfax County Park Authority. With the intention of building a mill,

Miller's house undergoing rehabilitation, 1966-7. Photo: Eddie Printz.

George Washington purchased the land on which the mill was built, but he died before building it. Mill was built c. 1811. The miller's house is c. 1809. The burr stones lining the hillside along the path to the mill were imported from France at a high cost. A good set of burr stones would last 100 years. These stones came from various mills. After the Civil War, the mill was less profitable, but it was a working mill until the late 1930's. National Register of Historic Places. Here FCPA also operates a working blacksmith forge. Here in 1972 Fairfax County designated a historic district, consisting of the park, some of the houses on either side of Colvin Run Road and some former houses to the south of Rte. 7. The trail goes through the historic district.

Colvin Run Village, or Leigh Corners, a half-mile up Colvin Run Road from the trail, features the Alfred Leigh house (1890), now a restaurant; Colvin Run School; a grange; and a working country store. Long before Tyson's Corner became an "edge city," Colvin Run Village was the largest settlement on Leesburg Pike between Falls Church and Leesburg:

• In 1890, a gazetteer showed two general merchants and eleven farmers in addition to the millers.
• By 1897 Colvin Run had its own magistrate, doctor and constable.
• In 1906, in addition to the above, it had three blacksmiths, another doctor, four teachers, an undertaker and four more farmers. The village had its own baseball club.

The decade of 1910-1920 was the last one in which the village was a well-defined community. Once the roads were paved, the automobile provided a way to obtain services elsewhere. In 1941, Virginia relocated Route 7, bypassing the village. It fell into a slumber until Great Falls became a suburb of Washington.

The relocation of Route 7 also reduced the capacity of the mill pond. The owner of the mill filed suit against the state, in which he was eventually successful. History is about to repeat itself, because the Virginia Department of Transportation wants to widen Route 7 from two-lanes to three-lanes in each direction. One glance at the highway's proximity to the mill pond suggest that Colvin Run Mill park may suffer again.

See this site's interesting places on the Difficult Run Trail for more information.

The Mill as seen from the trail. Photo appears courtesy of The Friends of Colvin Run Mill.

Related Sites

The best site on Colvin Run Mill.

The official site.