On this site in 1854 Timothy Thistlethwaite and his brother-in-law Joseph Ratliff dammed the water of the river with the use of farm teams, placing large boulders at the bottom of an earth and stone fill in the river channel; this changing the course of the river to flow into a new channel over a rocky ledge forming Thistlethwaite Falls.
Timothy Thistlethwaite's wife's grandfather, Cornelius Ratliff, Sr., came to this site in 1810 when impressed with the heavy growth of timber and the mass of building stone lying loosely in the bed of the river.
A lock was installed above the falls to regulate the volume of water used in turning the water wheel. The 47' fall from the falls allowed Timothy's development of several mills in the Happy Hollow district of early Richmond.
After 80 years, nothing remained as a reminder of these mills except the pit in the falls which ran the bull wheels and a portion of the continuation of a raceway from the mill site downstream.
The Gorge that extends from here to test road was carved during the last 20,000 years but reveals geologic history much older than that. The layers of stone exposed in the gorge walls originated between 450 and 500 million years ago as sediment on the bottom of an ancient sea that covered a large part of North America.
1. Describe the type of rock found along the walls around the falls?
2. Name at least two types of mills that were built at this site?
3. Optional: Please post a picture of you and/or your GPS at this well.