Whittle Mill

About 1756, John Brooks built a log and earthen dam across the Meherrin river to power a gristmill and sawmill. The mill was later owned by Revolutionary War Captain Thomas Bedford, who built a stone dam and operated a mill, mercantile store, granary, distillery and a popular ale house. Colonel William Davies bought the mill in 1796 and brought his family to Mecklenburg in 1800. Davies' daughter married Fortescue Whittle, a shipping magnate and refugee of the Irish Rebellion. The mill and farm passed in 1809 to the Whittle family for nearly a century. Fortescue and Mary Ann Whittle operated a large farm, tavern, granary, distillery, mercantile store and post office near the grist mill, and they raised a distinguished family at their Millbank Plantation.

Many of the 14 Whittle children distinguished themselves during the Civil War: Commodore William Conway Whittle, Senator James Murray Whittle, Dr. Conway Davies Whittle, Dr. John Samuel Whittle, Stephen Decatur Whittle, Colonel Lewis Neale Whittle and Bishop Francis M. Whittle. The youngest son, Colonel Powhatan Bolling Whittle, commanded the 38th Virginia Regiment that made the deepest advance into the Federal line during Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. Commodore Whittle's son, William C. Whittle, Jr., was executive officer aboard the Confederate ship Shenandoah, which decimated the Union whaling fleet in Arctic waters and fired the last shots of the Civil War. The graves of Colonel William Davies, Fortescue Whittle and Colonel Powhatan Whittle rest nearby on private property in a family cemetery overlooking the river.

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Contributed by June Banks Evans

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