The popular construction and use of mill dams in the 18th and 19th centuries had major environmental, social, economic, and political effects in the Piedmont region and the broader American South.
Mills and mill dams first appeared in the eastern United States in the 1600s and were continuously constructed through the 20th century, although the height of their popularity occurred in the 1700s and 1800s. The Southern economy, formerly reliant on the efforts of individual agriculturalists rather than a collective market, began to make use of mills to perform different functions like grinding wheat or processing logs to make lumber. The Piedmont region was particularly well-suited for mill dam activity considering its stream gradients were “conducive to milldam construction and shipping ports of the Coastal Plain are in close proximity”. (Walter & Merritts 2008, pg. 300)
With the advent of widespread mill reliance, the South began a transition to a more collective, less individualistic economy. Mills provided jobs and presented an opportunity to increase use of slave labor to the region. They generated massive outputs of food, lumber, and other necessary resources that could be purchased by locals or distributed in other communities for profit.
In addition to economic change, mill dams had environmental impacts that are still reflected in the Piedmont today. Streams and rivers, upon which mills were reliant, were particularly affected. High amounts of suspended sediment and steep eroding banks are two indicators of mill dams in waterways. One impact that is specific to dams and is particularly noticeable in the Piedmont today is deep stream incision.