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HENRY COUNTY, VA. — After sitting quiet for more than two years, a Henry County sawmill is getting another shot at making some noise — and this time, it comes with $7.4 million in investment and 74 jobs.
Governor Abigail Spanberger announced Thursday that Twain Lumber Company plans to purchase and reopen the former Teal Jones sawmill operation on Carver Road in Henry County.
In other words: the sawmill that has been sitting there collecting dust is getting ready to start collecting paychecks.
Twain Lumber plans to invest approximately $7.4 million in the facility and bring back roughly 74 positions. The company also plans to purchase more than $51.2 million worth of Virginia forest products over the next three years, giving local timber producers another major customer.
The facility was previously operated by Teal-Jones and has been idle since the end of 2024. Twain's investment is expected to bring the operation back online with upgraded equipment.
The mill's production capacity is expected to increase from approximately 80 million board feet annually to 108 million board feet when operating at full capacity.
And for those keeping score, this isn't Twain's first move in getting the mill restarted. Earlier this year, the USDA approved a $7.568 million loan guarantee connected to Twain Capital's effort to acquire and restart the idle Martinsville sawmill.
The project has involved the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission and the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corporation.
For Henry County, the announcement is more than just another economic-development press conference.
It's 74 jobs, millions of dollars in investment, a market for Virginia timber and another industrial facility moving from "sitting empty" to "get ready to go to work."
And around here, that's the kind of noise people don't mind hearing.
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