Hurricane Fran 1996

Map & Video of flooding near Coles Hill after Hurricane Fran in 1996
View a hand-drawn map depicting flooding sources near Coles Hill in Pittsylvania County, Virginia and home video footage of flooding near Coles Hill, taken September 4-7, 1996, just after Hurricane Fran.

Four Sites
There are four sites to look for in the home video. Three of these were areas where the road was temporarily impassable. In some cases shooting was done from both sides of an impasse. (Please note: The video segments are not in exact chronological order. Sites were filmed multiple times and show different water levels. The Mt. Airy Roller Mill on Johnson's Mill Road is not downstream from Coles Hill.)

Markham Road Bridge over the Banister River (Rt. 686)
The video begins here and returns to this site several times. The cattle farm adjacent to the bridge was completely under water. The video shows the top of the fence posts appearing to bob like ducks as the water passes. Later footage shows flood debris in the barbed wire fence. The chimney is a historic site, the birthplace of Rachel Donelson Jackson, wife of Pres. Andrew Jackson. It is not Thomas Jefferson's chimney as the video dialogue asserts.

Intersection of South Meadows Rd. (Rt. 683) and Markham Rd. (Rt. 686)
This site is recognizable by the road name signs at the intersection and by "Chicken Coop Bridge" on South Meadows Road, also referred to as the "new" bridge since it replaced a bridge washed out in an earlier storm during the 1980s). Markham Road looks like a river. This is where the water from Whitethorn Creek, Mill Creek, Georges Creek, and Dry Branch are all running together just before flowing into the Banister River.

Frith's field along South Meadows Rd. (Rt. 683)
This site is filmed from a moving vehicle. It is recognizable only by the audio, "There's Firth's field." Southside Cattle Corp. purchased approximately 1500 acres from Coy Frith. The property, still commonly referred to as Coy Frith's farm, has been mentioned as a possible mill and tailings disposal area.

Johnson Mill Road Bridge just below the dam at Mt. Airy Roller Mill
This site does not include run-off from the Coles Hill property. The mill and dam are on the west side of Johnson Mill Road just south of Mount Airy. This site is readily recognizable by the sand deposited on the road, as well as by the dam and mill. Sand was hauled to a VDOT maintenance facility for later use on winter highways.