a history of our neck of the woods...
Thanks to Joe Porterfield, we now have this comprehensive history of Advance Mills from the earliest days to 1995 on-line. Joe also found, with help from Steve
Burnett, pictures of Fray's store and Fray's mill around 1900. Eric and Carole
Saunders contributed this article on Albemarle
mills (and more specifically, Advance Mills) from 
Charlottesville Home magazine of February 24, 1994.
[Thanks to Joe Porterfield for his research]
FINAL REPORT
HISTORICAL ARCHITECTURAL SURVEY OF ALBEMARLE COUNTY VILLAGES
Submitted by:
Dames & Moore
7101 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 700 Bethesda, Maryland 20814
Submitted to:
Virginia Department of Historic Resources
221 Governor Street
Richmond, Virginia
Prepared for:
Department of Planning & Community Development
County of Albemarle Charlottesville, Virginia 22092
October 1995
ALBEMARLE COUNTY HISTORICAL CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. 22901
6.1.3 ORIGIN OF NAME
Advance Mills grew up around the Fray family gristmilling operations established
on the north fork of the Rivanna River in 1833. The community was known as
Fray's Mill until 1888 when a post office was established at this location and
the name changed to Advance Mills. Tradition says the name was proposed by a
Fray family member who admired all the "advances" happening in the community.
6.1.4 EARLY SETTLEMENT (1607-1750)
European settlement of this section of Albemarle County did not begin until the
1730s. At that time, the northern section of the county, which includes Advance
Mills, was a part of Hanover County. This part of the county was settled
predominantly by immigrants from the York River counties of Virginia. Early
patents in the general vicinity included one in 1735 by John Henry, father of
Patrick Henry, who owned 1,250 acres to the southwest of the Advance Mills area
between Earlysville and Free Union (Woods 1907: 5). After 1742, this became part
of Louisa County. Albemarle County was founded in 1744 and this part of Louisa
County was added to Albemarle County in 1761.
As early as 1745, a road running as far west as today's village of Advance Mills
was established along the approximate route of State Route 641, which intersects
with Coursey's Road (State Route 20), leading northeast to Orange Court House,
and the Fredericksburg Road (State Route 22), even farther to the east (Pawlett
1983: 3-4). The need for a road in this area suggests that there were a number
of settlers in the Advance Mills area at a relatively early date in Albemarle
County's history. Most of these settlers became farmers, growing mainly tobacco
and relying on both the river and the crude tobacco-rolling roads for
transporting their products to market. Towns and population centers were few,
and settlement was widely scattered during this period.
6.1.5 COLONY TO NATION (1750-1789)
Northern Albemarle County's economy continued to be marked by agricultural
pursuits throughout the colonial and early Republic periods, although farmers
gradually shifted from tobacco to cereal grain production as the eighteenth
century ended. This emphasis on grain agriculture had the effect of creating a
demand for both trading centers and grist mills, particularly along streams and
rivers. Some of Albemarle County's earliest mills date from this period,
reflecting this important change in the county's agriculture.
6.1.6 EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD (1789-1830)
The period from the end of the Revolutionary War into the early part of the
nineteenth century was characterized, in this area, by the continued shift away
from tobacco and the almost exclusive reliance on grain as a cash crop. The
economic advantages of grain made it possible for local farmers to improve their
farms and buildings. A number of surviving farm houses from this era exist in
the surrounding area. However, the farmers were somewhat hampered in their
efforts to improve their cash position because of the lack of mills in the area.
6.1.7 ANTEBELLUM PERIOD (1830-1860)
Advance Mills is one of Albemarle County's most recognizable milling communities
and contains resources dating back to the early 1800s. The Fray family dominated
the history of the Advance Mills community. Town founder John Fray operated a
flour mill at this location beginning in 1833 (CDP 2/24/1985). For more than
fifty years the village was known as Fray's Mill. The name was changed to
Advance Mills in 1888 by the U.S. Post Office.
The Fray family, of German ancestry, descended from a John Fray who had settled
in Culpeper County by the early 1760s. They were presumably part of the larger
migration of German settlers moving east from the Shenandoah Valley in the
eighteenth century. John Fray's son, Ephraim Fray, built a mill in 1799 on Deep
Run in Madison County (later known as Crigler's Mill), which Ephraim sold in
1810 to his son, John Fray. In 1833, the younger John Fray sold that mill and
moved his wife and seven children to his newly bought property in Albemarle
County, where he and his teenaged sons constructed a flour mill on the north
fork of the Rivanna River. Grist milling was a profitable enterprise during this
period, as Albemarle County fanners made the transition from growing tobacco to
growing cereal grains. Over the next several years, Fray bought and sold almost
1,000 acres of land in northern Albemarle County (Lewis 1956: 5, 16-17).
The Fray family occupied a still-existing house beside the river, now called
Holly Tree Farm (VDHR #02-2164). A portion of this house may date to about 1790,
although it has been added onto numerous times during its history (Observer
5/10-16/1990). It is a typical Federal period house with finely detailed
brickwork and some original fireplace mantels. A collection of
nineteenth-century outbuildings remains on this property. These outbuildings
include an ice house, kitchen, smokehouse, several sheds, and a barn. The house
and its outbuildings are significant for their association with the Fray family,
as well as for the wide variety of building types and functions they represent.
6.1.8 CIVIL WAR (1861-1865)
Comparatively little military activity occurred in Albemarle County during the
Civil War, and unlike much of the rest of Virginia, most of the county's farms
and towns were spared. No military activity occurred in or around Advance Mills
and the Fray family mills apparently continued to operate throughout the war
years.
6.1.9 RECONSTRUCTION AND GROWTH (1865-1914)
Little information on Fray's Mill and the size and makeup of the surrounding
community is contained in gazetteers and business listings from the antebellum
period. However, the mill and the surrounding community are shown on a number of
historic maps of Albemarle County published during and after the Civil War. The
earliest known map of Albemarle County, the Gilmer map of 1864, shows two mills
marked "Frays" on the Rivanna River, as well as farms in the surrounding area
owned by "Mrs. Fray," B. Creel, Scribner and F. Marshall. The Hotchkiss map of
Albemarle County of 1866 shows "Frey's Mill" and the same nearby farms (Map
6.2). So, too,, does the Peyton map of Albemarle County of 1875, although by
this time the Marshall farm is marked "Marshall's Distillery," and a Garrett
family has joined the neighborhood (Map 6.3).
The Fray family continued to dominate the economic and commercial life of the
small Fray's Mill community and surrounding farms for several years. Other towns
and villages from this period in Albemarle County, such as Batesville and
Crozet, supported a number of competing stores and businesses. Fray's Mill,
bypassed by the railroad and serving only the immediate farm community, remained
something of a backwater and did not grow substantially beyond a small
collection of houses and businesses, all owned by members of the Fray family.
The family of Albert Garriot Fray, John Fray's youngest son, continued to
develop the family enterprises at Advance Mills in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries. Albert Garriot Fray had three sons: John Milton Fray,
Robert Briggs Fray and Aubrey Gaines Fray. John Milton Fray and Aubrey Gaines
Fray joined with their father in the milling and mercantile business and Robert
Fray developed a substantial farming operation in the Advance Mills area,
raising sheep, cattle, wheat and corn (Ballard interview 2/16/95 and Wetsel
interview 2/21/95). John Milton Fray became a leading citizen of Albemarle,
serving 35 years on the Board of Supervisors from 1908 until his death in 1943,
and part of that time as the Board's chairman (Lewis 1956: 23-26).
In the 1880s, the mill complex owned by the Frays and mill operations conducted
by others produced not only flour and cornmeal but also wool. In size and scale
of operations, it was comparable to several other mills from this period in
Albemarle County and Charlottesville. In gazetteers beginning in 1884, the
community is first represented only in listings for the A. G. Fray mill
appearing under corn & flour mills and the Albert G. Fray mill under woolen
mills. Both of these were listed as being in Earlysville, the nearest post
office, although this community is three miles away (Chataigne 1884/5: 77). In
1884 the firm of J. M. Fray & Co. was established by John Milton Fray and Aubrey
Gaines Fray, sons of Albert Garriot Fray, and grandsons of the John Fray who
established the first mill. This enterprise included a large general store,
managed by A. Gaines Fray and the mills, under John M. Fray's direction (Walker
1906: 39).
Advance Mills first appeared under that name in a gazetteer of 1888 (Chataigne
1888: 94). It had become a post office by this time, and tradition has it that
the name Advance Mills was proposed by John Fray, who claimed that people
frequently commented about all the "advances" being made there (Honn interview
2/8/95 and Ballard interview 2/16/95). The post office, housed in the general
store, gave new importance to both the Advance Mills community, and the Fray
family, who served as postmasters for a number of years.
In 1888, listings in Chataigne's gazetteer for Advance Mills included the Fray
corn and flour mill, two saw mills, two "carpenters who are also contractors,"
one general merchant (J. M. Fray), one millwright, and one tanner. The A. G.
Fray mill continued to be listed in Earlysville under woolen mills and A. G.
Fray also appeared listed in that community as a wool dealer. This was likely a
holdover from earlier directories, and actually referred to the Fray mill
complex at Advance Mills. Other directories in the next decade listed the same
businesses and artisans, with the addition of a saddle-and-harnessmaker, a
cattle dealer, an agricultural implements dealer, and distiller.
Around the turn of the century two frame houses with identical floor plans were
built in the village to serve as the Fray general store merchant's house (VDHR
#02-2159) and the Fray Mill miller's house (VDHR #02-2165). The foundations of
the miller's house are part of an older ice house (Ballard interview 2/16/95).
According to Greene County native Cecil Wetsel, Gaines Fray lived in the
merchant's house before he built his larger brick house on Route 743 north of
the river, now called Sunny Bank (VDHR #02-2163), around 1905. This handsome
Colonial Revival-style house is in virtually unaltered condition and is an
excellent example of domestic architecture from this period. The size and scale
of this house are a further indication of the social and economic prominence of
the Fray family in Advance Mills. John M. Fray's oldest son, Albert, served as a
clerk in the general store and also lived in the store merchant's house at one
time.
By 1906, J. M. Fray & Co. was described as "dealers in general merchandise,
millers and undertakers." The two mills included one for grinding flour,
cornmeal and feeds and another for grinding sumac, used in dying cloth. The
flour mill produced 30 barrels a day using "the very latest Wolf Gyrator system"
of machinery and the store served customers throughout northern Albemarle and
southern Greene Counties (Walker 1906: 39). The store was evidently a very
substantial operation; a 1912 advertising broadside proclaimed that ten clerks
were on hand at all times to assist customers (CDP: 5/10/1978).
The 1907 Massie map of Albemarle County showed the community had a telephone as
well as a post office (Map 6.4). Along with nearby Earlysville, it was the most
important community in this part of Albemarle County. Although there are no
churches located in Advance Mills, the wider community at that time contained
two grade schools, one for black and one for white students. Colored School No.
7 was just east of the village on Route 641 while White School No. 21 was north
of the village on Route 743. Neither building is known to still exist.
As roads improved during the early and mid twentieth century, the need for a
structurally sound bridge crossing over the Rivanna River at Advance Mills
became more important. The date of the first bridge at Advance Mills is unknown.
The Episcopalian Archdeacon Frederick Neve described in his memoirs crossing the
Advance Mills bridge during a flood in the first decade of the twentieth
century. He described the bridge as a plank bridge with no sides (MACH 26: 54).
6.1.9 WORLD WAR I TO WORLD WAR H (1914-1945)
By 1932, U. S. Route 29 (contiguous with then-State Route 28) ran from
Earlysville through the center of Advance Mills along present Route 743 (Map,
Va. Dept. of Highways, June 1, 1932). The present bridge (VDHR #02-0541) is a
nineteenth-century structure moved to this location in 1943 after an earlier
wooden bridge had been washed out by a flood (Wetsel interview 2/21/95 and
Ballard interview 2/16/95). The bridge is a two-span steel structure with one
pony truss and one Pratt through truss supported on a concrete substructure.
These trusses were relocated from an unknown site (Virginia Dept. of Highways,
Truss Bridge Survey #49, 1974). This bridge is one of a small number of Pratt
trusses still standing in Albemarle County and is an essential element in the
historic character of the Advance Mills community.
Mrs. Frances Fray Ballard, born in 1927 in Advance Mills and the granddaughter
of Robert Briggs Fray, remembered that during her childhood the Fray family mill
was producing flour, cornmeal and animal feeds, although saw-milling had ceased
by that time. The J. M. Fray & Co. store was one of the largest general stores
in Albemarle County in the first half of the twentieth century, and like most
general stores, it carried a broad array of goods. Residents from the
surrounding area sold their bought sumac, ginseng, and animal hides to the Frays
as middlemen. Sumac was often stored near the store for later sale; there was
once a sumac house in the field across Route 743 from the store. Clothes were
also sold in the general store. An addition was made to the store in the early
1900s and men's suits were added. There was also a millinery department, and the
store dealt in caskets and had a horse-drawn hearse.
Grist mills, such as the Fray family mill, were once a common sight throughout
Albemarle County and were an integral part of the county's agricultural economy.
Before World War II, Cecil Wetsel, raised in nearby Greene County, remembered
going to Advance Mills on many occasions with his father to deliver grain from
his family's wheat farm for grinding. Farmers often stored their wheat here
while waiting for it to be ground. According to Wetsel, the store paid a penny a
pound for sumac (which had to be dry and bagged in burlap), but would pay a half
cent more if the seller would take store coupons (good for J. M. Fray
merchandise) instead of cash. Burnley's was the closest railroad stop and
"fancy" goods for the store were shipped in by rail and brought by wagon from
Burnley Station (Wetsel interview 2/25/95).
6.1.10 MODERN PERIOD (1945-PRESENT)
J. M. Fray & Co. continued both milling and retail operations until fire
destroyed the store in 1946 (CDP 2/24/1985). The mill burned on March 15, 1948.
A diesel engine installed in the mill to supplement water power ignited the fire
(CDP 2/24/85). The Fray Mill joined the ranks of numerous other grist mills in
Albemarle County that succumbed to fire, flood, and economic hard times during
the mid twentieth century. (There are no longer any operating mills in the
county). Following the mill fire, the sites of both the store and mill were
effectively leveled and the turbines were removed from concrete supports and
left to rust (Observer: 4/15-21/1982). The foundations of both the mill (VDHR
#02-2161) and the store (VDHR #02-2158) still remain as visible reminders of
these once-important business operations.
Mrs. Ballard's husband, Ray Ballard, bought the burned out complex at auction
for $2,000 in 1948 and shortly thereafter built the existing cinder block store
in which the Ballards opened Advance Mills Supply (VDHR #02-2158) around 1950
(CDP 2/2/1986). A retired engineer, C. H. Atkins, bought the old Fray farm
(Holly Tree Farm) and mill site in 1967. In 1984 he put the remains of the
existing dam to use by installing two turbines to generate electricity for his
own home and up to fifty others (CDP 2/24/85). Remains of both the original mill
dam, mill race, and the mill site can be seen on the east bank of the Rivanna
River, south of the metal truss bridge.
page last updated:
April 22, 2007
