Restoration in Motion
What better place to discuss the abundant history of the Valley than the Silver Lake Mill, now a destination on the Virginia Civil War Trail.
Walking up the narrow stairs to the top floor, my footsteps echoed against the old wood. Once there, I couldn’t help but notice the view from the lone window across the room. Against the pinks and oranges of the setting sun were the rolling hills of Dayton, speckled with homes and barns. Silver Lake shined as ducks and swans swam across it.
“We couldn’t have a prettier spot to work in,” says Cheryl Lyon, about the newly renovated Silver Lake Mill. “It’s a good demonstration of how you can take something that’s old and ugly by today’s standards and turn it into something that’s acceptable.”
Founded in 1822 by John J. Rife as a gristmill to grind corn into meal, Rife’s Mill soon came into the hands of members of what is now the Church of the Brethren. Then known as Dunkards, the Brethren members owned the mill for most of the 19th century. One of the most influential owners was Daniel Bowman, who purchased the mill in 1839, owned it for 40 years and changed its name to Bowman’s Mill. Bowman, a Dunkard, practiced strict pacifism and was well known as a Unionist. It was said that he purchased slaves only to free them, and would often hire them to work in his mill. In the fall of 1864, Bowman’s Mill was burned — along with most of Dayton — by Union General Custer’s troops. The mill was then rebuilt in 1866.
During the 1900s, several different owners took over the mill, which had become a flourmill. The city of Harrisonburg purchased it in 1945 and then sold it to Rockingham Milling Company in 1946. Fifty-one years later, the company donated the mill to the Harrisonburg-Rockingham County Historical Society. Finally, in 1999, Lyon, owner of LDA Creations, purchased the mill and began its renovation.
“I knew that there were going to be a lot of stumbling blocks, but there were far more than I had ever planned on,” says Lyon. Though the whole renovation took only about 15 months, “there were a lot of interesting situations.”
Luckily, Lyon was able to find a local Mennonite contractor, Berman Burkholder, who recruited many young Mennonite men from the community. They all were familiar with “post- and-beam” construction, says Lyon, which uses large, widely spaced wood beams to provide structural support.
“Those poor guys would remove a board and, all of sudden, all this crud full of rat droppings and foul grain that’s 50 years old would just fall,” says Lyon. “They’d go racing out to the lake and jump in.”
When the renovation began, they discovered that rat tunnels ran through all the perimeter beams. The beams were hollow and had to be filled with about $15,000 worth of epoxy, which was cheaper than trying to find new beams.
“It was just appalling to see what was on the inside of this building,” says Lyon, “but we got through it.”
Because all of the floors were covered with big metal sheets, Lyon thought they could just take up the sheets and refinish the floor. But she soon realized why the sheets were in place. “You didn’t know if the you were going to fall through on your next step or not. So the floors were no good.” Although all the floors were replaced, they were able to replane the wood and use it for handrails and window trim.
Once the men started sweeping on the top floor, “which was just covered with filth like you wouldn’t believe,” all the grain dust got kicked up into the air, says Lyon. In less than 10 minutes, the situation got very dangerous. Three days later, the fire department came in and hosed down the whole building from the inside. The renovation team adoringly calls this day the “Great Flush.”
“Every day, it was 20 questions from the contractor. What do we do about this? What do you want done with this?” explains Lyon. “I was always having to make judgments about trying to maintain the ‘millness’ of the building, and yet make it a pleasing environment for us to work.”
Lyon tried to preserve the basic feeling of the building as best she could. “It’s a big, old building with lots of history,” she says. Although the renovation ended up costing twice what she had planned, it was still less expensive than building a brand-new steel building.
“I feel pretty good about where we ended up,” says Lyon. “We took it back to its appearance from when it was rebuilt after the Civil War.”
In 2001, LDA Creations moved into Silver Lake Mill. Lyon’s company specializes in creative custom products from decoration ceramics to glass and textiles. The company ships to all 50 states and a number of foreign countries. Using techniques dating back 250 years, the custom arts used here embody the idea of preservation.
