Sheriff Mill Complex
National Register Listing
Street Address:
SR 40, Easley, SC city vicinity (Pickens County)
Alternate Name:
Sheriff Place
NRHP Nomination
Record Number:
S10817739019
Description and Narrative:
The Sheriff Mill Complex, located on Brushy Creek in the Zion community, includes a main house, gristmill, miller’s house, millpond, and dam constructed in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Owned and operated by the Sheriff family, the complex is representative of a late nineteenth and early twentieth century milling operation. It is one of the most intact gristmill complexes that has been identified in the state. In addition, the wood frame main house, constructed ca. 1898-99, is a significant example of a late nineteenth century adaptation and expansion of an I-house, a house type common in the Piedmont. Exodus Sheriff shared ownership of the gristmill property with his brothers Samuel and Alfred Sheriff. In 1881 they constructed the present one and one-half story gristmill on the site of an earlier corn mill. Sheriff family descendents operated the gristmill until about 1955. The corn and wheat milling machinery in intact. The present concrete dam was built around 1900 to replace an earlier log dam. The millpond served as a reservoir to power the gristmill’s waterwheel and for a sawmill that is no longer standing. The one and one-half story miller’s house was built around the mid-nineteenth century and served as the home of miller’s associated with the operation of the property. Listed in the National Register November 20, 1987.
Period of Significance:
circa 1850;1881;circa 1898 – 1899;circa 1900
Level of Significance:
State
Area of Significance:
Architecture;Industry
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
November 20 1987