Located in Mecklenburg County near the town of South Hill, the Whittle’s Mill Dam deflected strong currents from the Meherrin River to propel grain- and sawmills. The mill complex, constructed around 1756, was part of a large homestead owned by Colonel William Davies and Fortescue Whittle, prominent colonial-era men. Portions of this earliest section of the dam are still visible on the river. Owner A. W. Hankley operated Whittle’s Mill Dam between 1915 and 1940. By 1951, the town of South Hill converted the dam to the production of municipal hydroelectric power, adapting historical equipment that engineers modified during the 1960s and up to 1975, when the town built a new enclosure to house the generator. Whittle’s Mill Dam’s successive designs and construction through three distinct eras reveal local engineers’ ingenuity and persistence. The Whittle’s Mill Dam site is now part of South Hill’s Max B. Crowder Memorial Park.
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