Millville

Oil on Canvas Board, 15" x 19”

This was a house along the Shenandoah River owned by Willis' grandfather, Thomas Hite Willis. It was where her parents, Nathaniel Hite Willis and Jane Charlotte Willis, spent their honeymoon. When Nathaniel bought Rock Hall, Thomas and his wife moved to this house. Willis' sister Betty Washington wrote, "I have lovely memories of staying at the Mill when I was a little girl. My grandmother had died before I remember. There was my grandfather, Aunt Bertie and Aunt Fannie." According to her nephew, John Washington, when Willis learned that the house was to be demolished to make room for the construction of an electric generating plant, she "horse-and-buggied" herself to the river from Charles Town to paint this picture.