Mill Dam

William Maxwell, born 1833, owned a farm at the end of Mill Dam Road in Spanishburg. He built a wooden dam across the Bluestone River that ran through his property. He also built a wooden, water-powered mill and a wooden up-and-down sawmill on the river.

Robert Calvin ‘Miller Bob’ Lilly (1831-1898) and his son Zachariah (1875-1916) bought the property and built the Lilly Mill, a much larger water-powered flour mill on the river. The wooden dam was replaced with a more substantial dam.

“Robert C. Lilly, ‘Miller Bob’, married Virginia Gore…He raised a family of six sons and five daughters, to whom he has given eleven good farms.” ---History of Summers County by James H. Miller, 1906.

Zachariah’s son Cyrus Truman Lilly, Sr. (1905-1979) married Ethel Stovall (1907-1996) in 1923. They set up housekeeping in 1925 in the old Granny Maxwell House at the Dam. They were very successful farmers on the twenty-five acres of bottomland he inherited from his father. In 1967 Cyrus Truman (C. T.) Lilly Sr. and his wife Ethel moved away from the farm (presently operated by C. T., Jr.) to the old Zach Lilly property on Route 19-21 where C. T. Sr. grew up.

In addition to Zachariah, some of ‘Miller Bob’s’ other sons were: Colonel David G. Lilly. At age 24 he became the Superintendent of Schools for Summers County. He was probably the largest property owner in Bluefield. John Alfred Lilly was the son-in-law of ‘Shady Jim’ Lilly. Robert C. Lilly was the first Republican ever elected School Superintendent in Raleigh County. Armistead Abraham ‘Cousin Abe’ 

Lilly was a graduate of Concord Normal School. He was a lawyer. He was elected to the House of Representatives from Raleigh County. In 1904 he was elected the Raleigh County Prosecutor. In 1912 he was elected the West Virginia State Attorney General. In 1929 Cousin Abe, as he was best known, organized the Lilly Reunion Association and became its first president. The first reunion was held in 1930. 

The Lilly Reunion is one of the largest reunions in the world and widely known.  In 2009 the Lilly Family Reunion broke the world record for family reunion attendance with 25,000 attendees with proven connections to the family by blood, adoption or marriage.

The Mill Dam and Bluestone River Resort located on the site of the Lilly Mill was a favorite holiday and recreational site. All the Lilly children learned to fish and swim in the river. The resort had rustic wood cabins that could be rented by the night or by the week. The resort was a short drive from many of the small towns in Mercer and Raleigh Counties. Fathers could work during the day and drive to the resort each night while their children also learned to fish and swim in the Bluestone River. Moms enjoyed a well-earned rest from the never ending housework while the children played.

About 1950 Garland Elmore, Sr. and his family lived at McComas. Mr. Elmore worked in the mines and took on maintenance responsibilites for homes and buildings owned by American Coal Company. At the time he wasn’t able to afford a fancy vacation but, still wanting his wife and children to have time away from the day-to-day work on the coal fields, he rented a cabin at the Mill Dam Resort. He worked many days at American during the family time away and made the trip from McComas to the resort every night after work. Garland Jr., and his four sisters had a great time playing in the river and their mom, Helen Sutherland Elmore, enjoyed being away from the coal dust of McComas for a week.

Cyrus Truman Lilly, Jr., acquired the site of the old Lilly Mill after the Mill was destroyed by fire in 1964. The milll was not rebuilt, but paintings and photographs have perpetuated its memory as a historic location, dating back to times just after the civil war, when the location was a thriving trading post, with its first mill and several stores and shops. The old Beckley-Princeton road diverted along the Bluestone to the site in those days. ---1984 Mercer County History by Ethel Lilly.

At some time after the Mercer County History account was written, the dam was destroyed by the Department of Natural Resourse to allow fish to migrate up the Bluestone River.  In 2023 at age 92 Cyrus Truman Lilly, Jr., is still living on the farm he has lived on his entire life except the four years he served in the Air Force.

Sources:

1984 Mercer County History - Lilly-Stovall by Ethel Lilly

Various Lilly obituaries, findagrave.com

William Sanders II, A New River Heritage, Volume IV

Discussions with Cryus Truman Lilly, Jr., in 2014 and 2023.