Big Otter Mill is situated on the bank of the Big Otter River, a few miles north of the City of Bedford, Virginia on Route 122 North, south of Big Island.
Opening its doors in the late 1700s, the mill began as a site for grist and sawmills. Since its beginning, the mill has been managed by a series of owners. Each owner helped keep the mill running until 1950 when its commercial operation ended. Since then, Big Otter Mill has been managed by the Big Otter Mill Foundation, in which time it has been through a restoration process to return the mill to working condition.