about Preston Williams

Preston Williams is the youngest of six children belonging to Bill and Sue Williams.  He spent the majority of his years within a stone's throw of the Millhole. His mother would run him out of the house after breakfast and he would spend many a happy day running up and down Mill Creek exploring every nook and cranny, building dams, diverting water, and doing all the things a kid of in the 50s could find to do.  After graduating from Radford University in 1976, he taught math at a local high school.  He married Blair Martin and they bore two children, Maury Lyle and Macon Blair.  They built their home in 1986 just 200 yards from the Millhole and reside there today.  Preston started working in the heating and air conditioning trade in the early 1980s.  This led to a familiarity with welding copper and bending sheet metal.  Somewhere in the 80s he started making sculpture from leftovers.  In the last few years he started to produce pieces for sale, as most of his early work was reserved as gifts for family and friends.  Today a limited number of these unique one-of-a-kind pieces are available to you.

history of Millhole

Lyle's Mill was probably built in the early to mid 1800’s.  The machinery in the mill was powered by a tangential water turbine. The turbine, installed on the creek side of the mill, was fed with water from a ditch dug around Edgehill above the mill. The miller would divert the water from the stream into the ditch about a half mile above the mill. A 12-inch pipe ran from a wooden dam at the mill end of the ditch. This column of water reduced to a 1-inch nozzle that was aimed at a series of cup-like receptacles attached to a 6-inch shaft.  The water turned the shaft that in turn provided power to the gears of the mill. The grinding stones are still in the mill today, but most of the other gearing and belts are gone. Besides the grinding of grain, the mill was a polling place at one time. Today, the mill is a landmark to the local residents and a popular place to cool off on hot summer days. The adjacent Mill Creek is spring fed and maintains a below 70 degree temperature most of the time. The creek tumbles down 50 vertical feet of limestone the last 300 yards before reaching the Millhole. This swimming hole has been the swimming hole for the Timber Ridge area of Rockbridge County forever. One can only imagine the list of people who have cooled themselves in these waters.

contact Preston Williams

Preston and his art reside at 113 McClung Road, Lexington VA 24450 and can be reached
by phone at 540-463-7915 or email millhole2@gmail.com.