Cooperative Living July 2017 - 34

Locke Store
Scenes from around the Locke Modern Country Store,
the core of the village of Millwood.
Above (from left to right) Ashley Gannon,
Locke Store owner Juliet Mackay-Smith
and Savannah Voelkel.
congregation to be baptized in Spout Run.
After she graduated from high school,
Jackson went to Washington, D.C., to find
work. She returned to Millwood in 1979
when Project HOPE opened the Carter Hall
Conference Center at Nathaniel Burwell's
former plantation. Jackson worked at
Project HOPE for 22 years as a cook
and housekeeper.
use as a recreation center.
Jackson has fond memories of watching
boys play basketball on the court behind the
center and of the youth dances that were
held at the center nearly every Friday and
Saturday night.
" So many kids lived in Millwood back
then. Saturdays were 'Oldies but Goodies'
nights and that floor would jump, " Jackson
recalls. " I was too young to stay until the
dances were over, though. " The dances
ended in the 1970s. Today, the community
center hosts an annual fall homecoming
weekend and is available for rental.
Millwood is an unincorporated community,
Denise Jackson,
long-time resident
of Millwood.
When she was growing up, the center
of village life in Millwood was the
Millwood Community Center. The center
was built in 1910 as a school for AfricanAmerican
children, replacing an older
Reconstruction-era building. In 1952, the
African-American schools in Clarke County
were consolidated at the Johnson Williams
School in Berryville, the county seat, and
the Millwood school was closed. Later that
year, a group of village ladies formed the
Millwood Good Will Association and
purchased the building from the county for
32 | Cooperative Living | July 2017
so there is no municipal government. Instead,
the Millwood Community Association, a
non-profit organization, tries to fill that gap.
According to Candy Means, who moved to
Millwood in 2005 with her husband Howard,
the association has been successful in
limiting truck traffic through the village and
in enforcing the county noise ordinance.
However, the association focuses most of
its efforts on projects that help Millwood
residents. Several years ago, the association
converted the vacant lot next to the village
post office into a community garden.
" There is a perennial garden in front and
a vegetable garden, with a deer fence around
it, behind that. One week each month, the
produce from the garden goes to the food
pantry run by the Episcopal Church, "
Means explains. " The weeks when the
food pantry is closed, we deliver produce
to pantry clients in the village. "
The Millwood Community Association
also hosts a Christmas bazaar, with the
proceeds going to the Good Will Association,
and a summer picnic for the entire village
on the mill grounds.
After moving to Millwood from Bethesda,
Maryland, the Meanses quickly became
involved in village affairs. " People were just
so welcoming, " Means says. " When we retired,
we knew we wanted to live someplace where
we could be part of the community. We
certainly found that here in Millwood.
It is a very special place. " 
Visiting Millwood
* Burwell-Morgan Mill: Open weekends
from mid-May through the end of October.
Grinding on Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Upcoming events include Colonial Kids Day
on July 15, the Fall Art at the Mill show
(Sept. 30 to Oct. 15, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily)
and Heritage Day on Nov. 4.
www.clarkehistory.org/events.
* Locke Store: Open Tuesday through Friday,
9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday,
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. www.lockestore.com. 
www.co-opliving.com
http://www.clarkehistory.org/events http://www.lockestore.com http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living July 2017

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