Biohazard and Crime Scene Remediation in Fries, VA

Fries is an incorporated town on the New River in Grayson County, Virginia, about 15.5 miles northeast of the county seat of Independence, and its name is pronounced "freeze."

The town is named for Colonel Francis Henry Fries, a North Carolina cotton mill owner.

In 1900 local resident Jim "Pipe" Carico proposed the Bartlett Falls site on the New River for a hydroelectric dam to power a cotton mill, and Fries bought the farmland and set the project in motion.

By 1901-1903 Fries had built a dam, the Washington Mills cotton mill and a full company town of about 300 worker houses.

Fries was incorporated in 1902, although the incorporation petition had proposed naming the town Carico.

Washington Mills began operating in 1903 and remained the town's economic engine until the mill closed in the late 1980s.

Fries was once a much larger mill town, with a peak population of more than 2,000 about a century ago; the 2020 census counted 452 residents.

Fries is one of three endpoints of the 57-mile New River Trail State Park, which follows an old railroad bed along the river.

The town sits on The Crooked Road, Virginia's musical heritage trail celebrating old-time and bluegrass music.

Fries hosts an Old-Time Fiddlers' and Bluegrass Convention each August and a Festival by the New River each September.