Peirce Mill (Art) History

Built almost 200 years ago, today Peirce Mill is a familiar sight in Rock Creek Park and a reminder of Washington’s agrarian past. But from the beginning, the mill was also a popular subject for local artists. Around 1830, an anonymous artist created the first known painting of Peirce Mill.

Artist and naturalist Titian Ramsay Peale photographed Peirce Mill in the 1850s. A handwritten caption describes this very early photograph as “TR Peales first attemp(t) at photography Pearce’s Mill Rock Creek DC.”

Pierce Shoemaker, a grandson of Isaac Peirce, was an amateur artist. He drew this view of his family’s farmstead around 1880.

In the 1890s, Peirce Mill became part of the new Rock Creek Park. In the early 20th century, park managers converted the old stone building into a teahouse. The picturesque mill and surrounding scenery became popular subjects for souvenir post cards.

Peirce Mill was also a favorite spot of local artists, and according to this 1903 article from the Washington Times, many local families owned paintings
of Peirce Mill.

In the summer of 1924, commercial photographers Harris & Ewing created a series of staged portraits of young women posing in Rock Creek Park. In one of the images, a stylish woman in a cloche hat paints a model holding a parasol.

Garnet Jex was a well-known artist and historian who wrote and illustrated books. The C & O Canal and Rock Creek Park were among his favorite subjects; he probably created this painting of Peirce Mill in the spring of 1928.

In the mid-twentieth century, Lily Spandorf’s distinctive, modernist illustrations of DC landmarks and street scenes were regularly featured in the Washington Post and other local newspapers. She painted the mill and bridge on a gray autumn day.

DC photographer and teacher Llewellyn Berry visited Peirce Mill with his students in the early 1970s. He has called the Mill Room his “signature photograph.” More of Berry’s images of Peirce Mill can be found here.

Ted Hazen became the miller at Peirce Mill in 1984; he was also an accomplished draftsman. Hazen drew this detailed pen-and-ink cross section of Peirce Mill’s interior in the 1980s.

In the early 1970s, the former carriage barn next to Peirce Mill became the Art Barn, a beloved local landmark until it closed in the 1990s.

The Art Barn was the “first permanent local facility in Washington where local professional artists could display their works in rotating exhibits throughout the year.”

Artists associated with the Art Barn created memorable images of Peirce Mill. This etching by Lindsay Harper Makepeace captures a snowy view of the mill from across Rock Creek.

Mary Belcher is a local artist and an avid researcher of DC history. She creates vivid watercolors inspired by Washington streetscapes past and present. Her painting of Peirce Mill was commissioned by Cultural Tourism DC in 2008 for the “Art on Call” project, which placed original artwork on decommissioned call boxes across the city. Look for Belcher’s painting of Peirce Mill circa 1860 on a red and green call box at the corner of Tilden Street and Linnean Avenue NW, just up the hill from Peirce Mill.

The almost-200-year-old tradition of making art at Peirce Mill continues today with Create by the Creek, an annual celebration of art and community in Rock Creek Park. This day-long festival features free workshops taught by local artists, art supplies for park visitors to borrow, and a landscape meet-up with the Washington Studio School.