MAYOR EARNIE: Prior to Europeans arriving, uh, the first inhabitants of this area were a group of Native Americans known to Europeans as the Doog Indians.

Local tradition holds that the word Occoquan meant in their language "at the end of the water."

The truth of the matter is, it's much more likely it meant "a grove of trees."

John Ballandine came here in the 1750s to establish an iron manufacturing operation.

And it was Ballandine who built the oldest structure here in town, which is Rockledge Mansion.

George Washington reached out to him to place an order for iron ingots in 1758.

Now, we think Washington was doing that to meet his supply needs for the French and Indian War.

Some time in the 1760s, a lot of folks who were in the iron industry started diversifying into milling operations to take advantage of the substantial cultivation of wheat in the Virginia backcountry.

The Mill House Museum, that's all that remains of the old mill complex.

It was attached to the largest mill in town, called The Main or Merchant's Mill.

We think it became the first automated mill in what was then the United States of America.

The person we consider to be the town's founder, Nathaniel Ellicott, because he did so much for the town, including automating the mill here, chartering the town, building a toll road.

He also built the first bridge across the Occoquan River, right where this footbridge is today.

This was a major, major improvement for the town of Occoquan.

Now, being on that main north-south route of the East Coast meant everybody traveling was coming through the town of Occoquan.

And as a result, Occoquan could support a whole bunch of businesses, including things like taverns and hotels.

But in 1972, Hurricane Agnes comes through, June 21st and June 22nd.

And Hurricane Agnes was, at the time, one of the worst disasters we've had in American history.

And it flooded what we consider to be the town's historic business district today.

ELEFTHERIA: The whole area just erupted in floodwater.

And so, from the funeral home perspective, caskets were floating down the street.

I can only imagine what that must've looked like and how shocking it must've been.

The whole town was devastated.

The funeral home did not survive as a funeral home.

The business closed.

Five years after the flood, a group of local artists recognized the need for studio space, so they took on the massive task of cleaning out all of the mud in the basement and transforming the space into nine artist studios that were used for showing artwork as well as teaching classes.

In 1982, the gallery came upstairs, out of the basement.

PATTI: Today, the Artists' Undertaking Gallery has 20 different artists.

We all work together to run the gallery, we all share wall space in the gallery.

We have painters, we have sculptors, glasswork, ceramics, woodworking, copper, mixed media, and that's just to name a few.

ELEFTHERIA: The Artists' Undertaking Gallery name is a perfectly clever play on words.

The roots of the funeral home, as an undertaker establishment, is where it begins.

But the artists who took on the massive undertaking of clearing out the space perfectly ties the history to the present moment.

PATTI: You're good to go.

TED: Thank you very much.

PATTI: Occoquan is a wonderful place for artists and for visitors.

It's calm, it's serene.

When you're here, you feel removed from the chaos of the world, so it's a wonderful place to decompress, create, and just enjoy.