HISTORY AND SUNDRY NOTES ON MILL PARK
"Mill Park" is historic with other houses and plantations in the area near Haymarket, VA.  This is described on a roadside sign along Rt 15 about a mile north of its entrance. (See Sign.)

The house was bought from the Tylers by C.A. Heineken, probably in 1866.  The Tylers built the house before the civil war.  The land around the house at that time was in the order of 1000-1200 acres.

C.A.'s father, German consul to Baltimore, had heard of Millpark, and recommended his son survey the homesite for a place to settle as a "gentlemen farmer."

Interestingly, since the Heinekens bought the house at the end of the Civil War, often soldiers, still on their way back home, would stop and beg for food and shelter for one night, both southern troops going south and northern troops heading north.

(Note that during the war, nearby St. Paul's Church in Haymarket was used as a hospital for soldiers from both sides, and 50-70 are buried there in unmarked graves.)

Now much construction in those days, as with Mill Park, was done with lumber, since brick making was not common in the USA, and often had to be brought over from Europe by ship and then by horse draw horses, or long distances over land from the few towns in America that did make brick.

Originally, the Tylers built the main house and a detached kitchen. (See Original House.)   Now kitchens were often detached because of the fear of fire spreading from the kitchen to an entire house.  A few years after the Heinekens purchased Mill Park, they connected the two and the smaller remained the kitchen.  At the same time he added an open porch and two bedrooms over the kitchen.  The cook and helper also roomed on the property in other detached buildings.  Also, the kitchen porch was at one time an open porch, but has since been closed in, with good wooden floors.

The pantry was used by the helpers to serve meals in the dining room.  The servants cooked, cleaned, and did most of the work.

At one time besides a barn, there were also carriage houses.  Some carriages were open and some closed.  And some cattle were kept, but mostly for personal needs (milk and meat).  Horses were one of the C.A.'s hobbies, as well as means of transportation.   And yes, women rode side-saddle in those days, on an especially designed saddle known as a "side-saddle".

Originally, there were 5 bedrooms, so as the family grew, bedrooms were added over the kitchen and in the attic, so that at one time there were 11 bedrooms.  Eventually the house had one bathroom at the landing at the top of the stairs.  It contained a basin, a tub and a toilet, all up on platforms to accomodate the plumbing without taking out a lot of the flooring.  It had two doors, one to the hallway, and the other to the master bedroom.

The house also had a "men's" game room and a dark room from where many of the pictures in and around Mill Park were developed, including a great deal many used in these web pages.

Now C.A. met a Hermann C. Hagedorn on a ship bound for New York from Germany, on one of C.A.'s many trips back and forth.   The two became life-long friends.   Hermann eventually worked at Mill Park from 1868 to 1873, running the mill as a partner.  Hermann's son, Alexander, latter married C.A.'s granddaughter Emma Johanna Peters.

Hermann also helped in some of the renovations at Mill Park, though the actual work was done by skilled laborers.  The name "Mill Park" is a product of the fact that Hermann started the mill on the property, and hence it was named accordingly.

The farm for a time also had a wind mill, as well as water driven mill.  Hence The Mill Park Wine Co. was founded. It was there for 20 years. (See Millpark Letterhead.)

Often, the Heinekens would go home to Germany.  When they did, they took most of their furniture with them.  This was apparently to prevent things from being stolen, or if for some reason they decided not to return, they would have all their stuff.  Also, if something happened to them while in Germany, their parents could see to disposition of the furniture.

C.A. was rather wealthy in the beginning and remained so, so he really never worked, per se, but always hired help, including supervisors.

C.A. and family were listed in the social register.

On the side, C.A. helped to see that the dirt roads were regraded after bad weather eroded the roads.  He in fact invented a road grader of sorts, fashioned from wooden boards that was hitched behind horses, much as a plow would be used, except instead of turning the soil, it smoothed it out to form a crown in the road so that rain water would run off faster and thus the road would not get as muddy and rutty as often.   Also, he often added stone and pebbles to help reduce run off and and thus reduce ruddiness.

Franz Peters also lived there for short periods.  He traveled a lot and had money too.  He eventually married C.A's daugther, Ella.  Since she was 13 when they met, and he started courting her, the parents felt it proper that she wait until she was a bit older. (See Ella at 13.)   In fact they sent her back to Germany for a few years to keep them apart (in a castle owned by her Aunt Mary Parker, who later donated the castle as a home for the retarded, in which Hitler later kicked them all out and used it for his generals,  and in which later the U.S. bombed it and destroyed it completely. See Castle.)

Ella and Franz were the only two ever married in the house at Mill Park.  And interestingly, since the Heineken's lived and eventually died there, there have been to date no births, deaths or marriages by any of its residents, though children born elsewhere, have lived there.

Now at Mill Park the Heineken children were schooled by a tutor.  And it was at Mill Park that Ella and her sister "Akie" used to perform plays.  Ella and Akie often dressed in men's clothes. (See Costumes.)

It is believed C.A. may have died of cancer, as his symptoms were consistent with cancer, though doctor's at the time did not recognize it as such or even knew what caused cancer.

After Mary Parker (Mamie) took over the house, when both parents died, she mismanaged the place and it went broke.  Also, her brothers and sisters all wanted their inheritances, so she eventually was forced to sell.  Klara (buried at St. Paul's) lived with her for awhile, and is buried at family plot in Haymarket.  Klara ended up selling much of the furniture, as Mamie gave it to her, so Klara could send money home to Germany to needy family members.   Mamie probably had Alzheimers when she got older.

Mamie did not marry because of her "sloppy" manner and was a bit homely.  She even once raised chickens on the 'chicken' table, a beautiful  8-sided table, now in the Horning family possession. [I will post the picture one of these days when I get time.]

The Mill Park house was described in those days as "dark".   Dark floors, dark walls, dark furniture and heavy drapes.   Though it was beautiful, it was still dark.

In the early days, it had a large front porch as seen in many pictures, at least until the house and lands were sold in the mid-1930's.  (See Auction.)

In 1994, Disney had planned to buy it and lots of land around it for its "Great America" theme park.   However, too many groups vowed to fight it in court.  Disney did not want the negative publicity and so relented, despite having received all the necessary government approvals.

Today, Mill Park is beginning to be surrounded by multi-million dollar homes and championship golf courses.  If built from the ground up, today, Mill Park would be a multi-million dollar house, but because of its age, is likely worth much more.  The Squires, who are its current residents, purchased the house in the late 1980s for about $3 million dollars, including about 250 acres, some of which has been sold for an adjacent golf course.  Even so, the house is and remaining land is worth far more.

(Haymarket, by the way, got its name from a town in England, not Germany.)