Buxton's Mill
Waterloo, Mason County, West Virginia
Photo curtesy of Donna and Joel Duprey.
< .....One of my favorite places in Mason County is a location that I have not visited in probably thirty years: Buxton's Mills. Although the dam, which is all that is left of the mill, is not far off the highway, it may not be on most folks list as a place to visit. Until the late 1960s, I came here often to fish and to relax. But, one fateful day after I had parked my car, gathered my fishing gear, and walked across the road to the path to the dam, I saw the herat-breaking sign with the words, "NO HUNTING-NO FISHING-KEEP OUT!" It was a horrible feeling that turned my stomach inside out. I guess someone had abused their privliages of fishing and had ruined things for everyone else. That was like the end of an era.
.....Sometime around 1870, Darius Buxton built a four story mill and dam on Thirteenmile Creek at Waterloo. The dam was not a engeneering marvel. It ran straight across the stream and, during a fierce flood, it was washed away. The dam that Mr. Buxton replaced the old one that washed away was a work of genius. Instead of being straight, it bowed upstream in the middle and was made of great stone blockes that were placed in such away that their shear weight pressed each stone against its neighbor and those achored the dam. The curved design spread the force of the water. I might add that this curved dam was way ahead of its time and predated the Hover Dam by many years.
.....Darius served as a lieutenant in the Union army during the Civil War. He was at The Angle at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863.
A vintage Photo of the old covered bridge and part of the dam curtesy of Jim Buxton. Thanks Jim.
I finally found my old slides that I made in the late 1960s with my old Agfa Ambi silette. I bought the camara in 1961 in Germany. The slides are showing their age a little, but they are not too bad.
From this photo, you can see the size of the stone blocks. I have fished from this spot many many times.
......From behind me, in this photo, is the spot where i began the walk across the stream in the word picture below.
.....This is the spot that you reach when you go down the path from the road.
..........Let me also draw you a word picture and take a walk with you around the Buxton Mill Area.
.....It is early in the morning in the Spring sometime in the good years of the 1950s. The sun is just topping over the ridge as we turn off the main road north of Arbuckle and begin to climb Waterloo Road. After a short ascent, we reach the top of the ridge and drive through the glory of spring. The glistening white of the dogwoods and the color of the redbuds, that defies description, sparkle among the bright spring green of the leaves. Our tires almost are silent on the smooth dirt road. We come down a gentle slope and we are at Waterloo. On the right is a large stately white farmhouse. On the left is the site where the old mill once stood. When I was a boy, the old wooden covered bridge also stood beside the road. It had been replaced by an iron bridge. After crossing the bridge, we park at a wide spot in front of an old frame house that is standing empty. My dad, old Pap Morrison, who sometimes came with us, and I usely ate our lunch here in the yard of the old house.
.....Stetching as we get out of our old pontiac, we gather our fishing gear, and walk across the road to the path to Thirteenmile Creek. This long winding creek is, at this spot, running parallel to the highway from which it is separated by the low ridge that we crossed. It has began this tack at the Tribble Road Bridge a few miles upstream. The path down to the creekbank is very steep and it is slipperly. There is a wonderful smell of damp earth and creekwater in the air.
.....At the bottom of the path is a fishing hole, and some one has left some forked sticks stuck in the dirt where the had laid their cain poles. That's all my dad would ever use. He never had a rod and reel. He would say, "I don't trust those things." But,we are not stopping here. without saying anything, we turn right and walk along a muddy path toward the dam. Before we can get to the dam, we have to cross a steep sided rocky run. After crossing the run, and a few paces further, we are at the dam.
......No matter how many times you have visited the dam, the first sight of it again always gives us a sense of awe. An engeneering marvel, it curves away across the wide stream. It is plenty wide enough to walk across although it may be a little slick. Here and there, water murmmers as it pours over to fall to the pool below. There is a narrow path around the end of the dam and we make our way down. At the bottom are huge rocks from which we can sit and fish. The sun is warm, and, life is still good and innocent.
.....We fish on this rock for a while and then we move over to another one. Multiwinged insects dip and weave above the water with the sun flashing through their gossemer wings. Butterfles flit from pool to pool. I find a little catfish, stranded since the last high water, in a small pool in a rock. We manage to get him back in the main stream and then watch him as he swims slowley away. A slight breeze ruffles our hair. We sit on a rock and think about what must have been and how the mill might have sounded as it provided for the community. We go up and fish from the dam for awhile and then decide to go to the other great attaction at Buxtons.
.....Going back to the creekside below the dam, we walk through some weeds and drift wood a short distance down stream to a riffle. Here we cross the gently moving water. Minnows flash silver in the shallows and, all of sudden, we are thrilled when a large bass streaks for deeper water.
.....We make our way up the opposite bank and into the sunshine of the huge cornfield. Crows fuss in the distance and there is the call of a meadowlark. We head down stream being careful not to step on the little corn. After about seventy-five yards, we come to one of the most amazing living things that I believe that I have ever seen: a great grandaddy of a sycamore tree. Standing high above its neighbors, it is so big around that it has to be seen to be believed.
.....Making our way into the shade of the great tree, we work our way around to the roots above the water. The big roots make wonderful chairs from which to fish. This is the place that my dad brought me as a young boy. My dad and I did not do a great deal together, but we did fish here. This was the place where my wife fished for the first time. She caught ome big catfish after anaonther and put me to shame. This old tree is almost sacred to me and seems almost like a cathredal. I even wrote a poem about it for my ethnic literature class during the time I went back to college in my old age. These are just a few of the charms of Buxton's Mills, but I will stop for now. If I miss some misspelled words or some grammar, I will try to find them. If i do not, then just smile.
.....If there is one thing that I could wish for before I die, it might be to be able to roam this place again. I would love to share Buxton's with my grandson.
Below is an outline of the Buxtons of Mason County as I have them at this time. It is not meant to taken as complete or absolutly correct.
Descendants of David Buxton
1 David Buxton .. +Eliza Hart b: November 02, 1803 d: September 28, 1873 Burial: Leon Cemetery . 2 Darius Varney Buxton b: September 12, 1830 d: April 11, 1890 Burial: Leon Cemetery ..... +Sarah Samantha Bradbury Harding b: August 26, 1836 d: May 09, 1917 Fact 1: Leon Cemetery ..... 3 Lodisa Buxton b: 1854 d: 1950 Burial: Leon Cemetery ......... +Frank P. Miller b: 1853 d: 1914 Burial: leon Cemetery ......... 4 Alma Miller ......... 4 Elizabeth Miller ......... 4 Mary Miller ......... 4 Warren Miller ......... 4 Samantha Miller ..... 3 Perry Bradbury Buxton b: July 02, 1857 in Kygerville, OH ......... +Bessie E. McGlochlin ......... 4 Frederick H. Buxton b: April 05, 1889 ......... 4 Walter Sinclair Buxton b: October 23, 1891 d: 1952 in Charleston, WV ............. +Opal Mae Dilly Father: Charles Harmon Dilly Mother: Margaret Matilda Sharp ............. 5 Charles Perry Buxton b: June 28, 1937 ............. 5 James Buxton b: November 11, 1941 ............. 5 John Buxton b: November 11, 1941 d: August 30, 2001 in Williamsport, PA Burial: Wildwood Cemetery ......... 4 Helen Virginia Buxton b: 1901 ..... 3 Walter Buxton b: 1865 d: April 09, 1874 Fact 1: Drowned in Kanawha River---body never found ..... 3 Mary Agnes Buxton b: 1867 d: 1943 bural: Leon Cemetery ......... +Ezekiel Hiram Burdette b: November 25, 1864 in Spruce Run, Mason County, WV d: 1948 Burial: Leon Cemetery m: November 27, 1886 Father: John Milton Burdette Mother: Mitilda Sayre ......... 4 Pearl Burdette b: 1890 d: 1891 Fact 1: Leon Cemetery ......... 4 Arthur Bradbury Burdette b: December 14, 1892 d: May 20, 1971 in Leon, WV Fact 1: Leon Cemetery ............. +Florence Schul b: October 08, 1901 d: May 1982 m: December 21, 1921 Father: Godfrey A. Schul Mother: Annie Wolfe ............. 5 Charles Arthur Burdette b: November 15, 1924 in Leon, WV d: August 28, 1986 in Huntington, WV ................. +Juanita King b: October 27, 1924 m: October 22, 1948 Residence: 129 Burdette St. Leon, WV 25123 Father: Charles King Mother: Rebecca Genevieve Stone ................. 6 Charles Arthur Jr. Burdette ............. 5 Stanton Ezekial Burdette b: October 11, 1928 ................. +Jean Harris Thomas ............. 5 Stanley Wayne Burdette b: June 10, 1930 ................. +Patricia Jones ............. 5 Ronald Norris Burdette b: May 09, 1933 ................. +Jesse Barnett ............. 5 Curtis Godfrey Burdette b: January 10, 1938 ............. 5 John William Burdette b: January 03, 1941 ................. +Wanda Livingston b: May 05, 1946 in Mason County d: Abt. 1998 in Mason County Burial: Leon Cemetery Cause of death: heart attack Father: Leonard Otho Livingston Mother: Berdie Marie Thornton ................. 6 John Jr. Burdette ................. 6 Amy Marie Burdette ......... 4 Guy Burdette b: September 25, 1895 d: May 1981 in Leon ............. +Erma Knapp b: 1893 d: 1979 Father: John R. Knapp Mother: Mary E. Dowell ......... 4 Herbert Burdette b: March 21, 1898 d: September 30, 1973 in Mason County Burial: Leon Cemetery ............. +Bernice Pierce b: November 07, 1899 d: August 21, 1930 in Mason County Burial: Lone Oak Addition Cemetery ......... *2nd Wife of Herbert Burdette: ............. +Murl Amos b: July 27, 1897 d: October 08, 1928 Burial: Leon Cemetery ......... 4 Edna Burdette b: September 15, 1904 d: September bural: Leon Cemetery ......... 4 Milton Poe Burdette b: April 12, 1908 ............. +Clarona Cottrill Father: Caleb Harland Cottrill Mother: Maude Rosa Pickens ......... 4 Desa Burdette b: Unknown ......... 4 Ethel Burdette b: Unknown ............. +Virgil S. Morrison Father: Perry W. Morrison Mother: Permella Florence Barnett ............. 5 Charles C. Morrison b: August 24, 1907 in Mason County d: October 22, 1911 in Mason County Burial: Leon Cemetery ..... 3 Charles Buxton b: 1870 d: July 1913 Fact 1: Leon Cemetery ......... +Mary M. Unknown b: 1874 d: 1924 bural: Leon Cemetery ..... 3 Horace Arthur Buxton b: September 06, 1875 d: August 15, 1961 in Mason County Burial: Leon Cemetery Occupation: Merchant and miller at Waterloo ......... +Iva Laverna (Lacerna) Stone b: December 13, 1883 in Mason County d: December 21, 1984 in Leon, WV m: December 16, 1900 Father: Elias Ichabod Bird Stone Mother: Catherine Doyle ......... 4 Hazel Buxton ......... 4 John Buxton ......... 4 Earl Darius b: May 12, 1902 d: January 20, 1920 Burial: Leon Cemetery ......... 4 Charles Perry Buxton b: December 17, 1916 d: August 01, 1978 in Leon, WV ..... 3 Wilford Buxton b: September 02, 1877 d: July 07, 1880 bural: Leon Cemetery
to be continued.