Enterprise Album
The South Fork, Captina Creek Valley below Somerton has always been a busy place with several residences and businesses. When this photo was taken about 1890, the Somerton Mill was the center of commercial activity. The mill, built in the 1820s, was originally run by water power. It was converted to a steam boiler operation in 1840. The building was torn down in the 1920s.
Around the time this photo was taken, there were plans to construct a railroad from Powhatan up the valley past Somerton and on to Temperanceville, Batesville and points west. While the railroad never materialized, Penn Central did lay tracks up the valley as far as the Number #6, North American Coal and Y & O Allison mines in the 1970s. (Photo from the Bruce Yarnall collection)
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