KingMill Enterprises is a vehicle to explore my interests in technology, history, architecture, model railroading, and photography.

My interest in trains was first sparked in the early 1970s when I peered down on the Norfolk & Western and Southern diesels from the Mary Street Bridge as they worked their way around the Bristol yard. This experience and my obsession with minute detail lead me into the world of modeling and model railroading. Hours whiled away planning the routes and structures of HO scale empires prepared me well for an education and short career in architecture. But as hand drafting gave way to computer aided 3-d modeling in the late 1980s, I was lured into the virtual worlds of multi-media game development and web design.

Chris Jessee

A number of people have asked if the name KingMill Enterprises originated with the stamped metal sign I use as the company logo.

My brother, Scott, and his high school friend Chester, first coined the name for their motorcycle repair shop. The shop was in the basement of Chester's house, on KingMill Pike. Since my company's primary business is the sale of model railroad kits, the coincidence of the word Pike in the history of the name made it appealing. The name also has just the right railroad ring to it. Scott gladly gave his permission for me to reuse the name. Click image to enlarge.

The KingMill stamped metal sign was created entirely in Adobe Photoshop. No actual metal sign exists. I wanted a weather worn logo that had the character of rural America. The stamped metal signs often seen on the side of country stores, advertising tobacco, flour and soda pop, seemed to fit the bill.

KingMill Enterprises, LLC
PO Box 63
Charlottesville, Va. 22902
434.962.2514
chris@kingmill.com