A story in this week’s Summerville News says that Chattooga County’s largest employer and the oldest cotton mill in continual operation in the United States might be up for sale.

The newspaper reported an investment company took a tour of the business this week.  According to Trion Mayor Larry Stansell, the investment group has a “previous relationship” with Mount Vernon.

The company has seen some major changes this year.  Mount Vernon, which once boasted cotton mills in Texas, South Carolina, Alabama and Georgia, closed their spinning operation in Alto, Georgia.  A short time after that, the company announced that spinning operations at the mill in Trion were stopping.  In all, about 700 jobs were cut due to the changes.

The mill in Trion has been in operation since 1845 and is Chattooga County’s largest employer.