# Pictures of old grist mill



## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

This is where I grew up. Spent a lot of time crawling all over this place. Found the key to the original lock under the floor. (Along with stuff like groundhog skulls - it kind of reminds me of a vampire lair). My dad only found one bottle down here - a cobalt J Wise squat.
 We call it Laudenslager's Mill, although it's had a few names over the years. It was built in 1831 and ceased operations in 1958 when the shaft of the waterwheel broke. My parents bought it in 1967 when I was a year old.






 The house beind the mill was built in the 1700's and was the original Miller's House. There were several bad floods in the 1860's and a new house built on slightly higher ground was constructed. So far, so good. I've seen many floods over the years, and in the original house, the water flows in one door and out the other. My parent's house still has not yet had water in the first floor, although it's been very very close. (within an inch or two).


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## RedGinger (Aug 25, 2009)

That is old!  Beautiful mill!


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

It has bats![] 
 Only one was there yesterday.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

This is from inside the first floor. If you notice on the 1st picture, the windows are at different levels and are different sizes. This is unusual for mills in the area. The reason, however, is that the 2nd floor is kind of a split level and one window can light 2 different floors of the mill.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

This is an old price sign on the first floor.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

Old sign in the office


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

Close-up


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

Some bags that were found in the mill


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

Hole in the floor where I was playing. Gonna be a pain to get the sifter out - so I left it there for now. No good finds.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

This box has been sitting in the same place as long as I can remember. The bottom is out.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

This is looking though where all the gears are to make the mill work into the wheelhouse.


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## JOETHECROW (Aug 25, 2009)

What a great spot to explore!....Also, it's a beautiful old building.
                                                                                       Joe


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## cyberdigger (Aug 25, 2009)

Are there any rooms to let? It's wonderful.....


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

Gears


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

Another shot.
 Yeah Joe - had a lot of fun in this place over the years!





 The junk in there is stuff that floated in or anound during the last flood. Hasn't been removed yet (although it's been awhile). Guess I should take care of that.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

Water wheel has seen better days. There was one down at the fish hatchery that looked about the same size. The mill that was down there burned. I told my dad, but I think he's given up on the restoration project. Besides too much work, too much money. As you can see, this has also become a stoage building.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

You can see how they changed the opening here. Not sure what the old wheel would have been like. It is an overshot wheel, as you can see.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

Here is a shot where you can see the size of the wheelroom.


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## RICKJJ59W (Aug 25, 2009)

That looks like a mill we used to go to as kids.It was in flower town but it was in bad shape and full of pigeons.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

Grain hopper & stone


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## RICKJJ59W (Aug 25, 2009)

better keep an eye on those crops [8D]


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

View from top of the steps


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

This screw is on a movable arm that goes over the stones for dressing. (Not quite sure what's involved in dressing the stones, though. Anybody?)


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

This is the 'on' switch. Turn this wheel to drops the gears so it starts.
 (I think- I could be wrong on what exactly that does... I'm thinking it lifts the ?gate so water starts flowing over the wheel and the gear has to be dropped manually - haven't had a mill lesson in many many years - it is the on-off, though)


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

Here's my favorite Tonka[]


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

> ORIGINAL:  lobeycat
> 
> Kate? Dear? We really should get married.


 Oh yeah?![] Why's that?!


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## capsoda (Aug 25, 2009)

It is a shame that something like that is not running. The signs, the full print sacks and wooden boxes that are labeled are all valuable. Love the craftsman ship. I'd be in there everyday piddling around with that thing. What year is the car tag???


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

Here's one of the grain bins. Put the bag holder/bag underneath & pull the handle to fill.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

And I thought it had something to do with naughty food or something! Bad idea - you have the good daughter and I have the bad daughter! Gotta wait until your kid graduates and gets herself to college first.[]


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

Side of an old wagon


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## RedGinger (Aug 25, 2009)

> ORIGINAL: lobeycat
> 
> Well I know what you're thinkin. He just loves me for my grist mill.


 LOL!


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## RedGinger (Aug 25, 2009)

That wagon side is cool!!  What else is in and around there???


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

Corn cracker (red thing) with big magnets to catch any metal (not quite sure where the metal is supposed to come from)


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## RedGinger (Aug 25, 2009)

Sorry Lobes, but Kate and I have our own thing []


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## JOETHECROW (Aug 25, 2009)

> ORIGINAL: pyshodoodle
> 
> This screw is on a movable arm that goes over the stones for dressing. (Not quite sure what's involved in dressing the stones, though. Anybody?)


 

 I think that dressing the stones restored the tolerance between the grinding surfaces of the stones...someone please correct me if I'm wrong...[]                                                                      J.B.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

> ORIGINAL:  RedGinger
> 
> That wagon side is cool!!Â  What else is in and around there???


 Mostly just all the equipment, which is rather rare. There are rusty license plates on the floor that where used to patch holes, but most are covered up or behind stuff that's being stored in there. 

 Ok - I gotta take a break... hope some find this interesting. Here's a picture of where the privy used to be. Good thing my parents have me convinced there's nothing in it. My mom planted holly bushes on top of it![8|]


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 25, 2009)

Joe - that sounds right to me. ADD sometimes makes thoughts in my head hard to get out in words. Or maybe I'm just too rightbrained.


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## JOETHECROW (Aug 25, 2009)

> Good thing my parents have me convinced there's nothing in it. My mom planted holly bushes on top of it!


 

 OMG!....I'll go buy some new holly bushes!!! <laughing> How my curiosity would compel me to put a strain upon family relations and DIG![] I'll suggest to Laur that we make the trip to the mill to celebrate her van getting on the road,...("yeah, that's not a probe...yeah, it's a prop rod for holding the hood open,...yeah,yeah,...that's the ticket")[] Just kidding Kate, but you have alot more diplomacy and restraint than I would.         Joe


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 26, 2009)

It's very close to the water source. 
 An interesting thing about this mill is, that, even though the headrace doesn't run anymore, natural springs come up under the wheel and thoughout the tailrace. 
 My dad said the outhouse had one of those troughs that slid out the back. Can't think of what they're called, though. 

 (Although the one across the millrace is only in grass and that was the workers outhouse. I still think about trying that one even though he says the same thing about IT. That one first.[])


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 26, 2009)

> ORIGINAL:  Antiquenut
> 
> I love the stonework! That is a beautiful home! I can just smell the grain now! I went to a working Grist Mill in Kings Landing,New Brunswick,Canada.The whole village is set back in time,clothes,food,music,everything.I liked the creaky old water wheel and the grinding of the stones as they milled the grain.I grew up on an old farm with a huge post and beam barn.It was nice but not as cool as your mill or house.Beautiful.Thanks for posting. -Tim


 I can't smell the grain, but I can smell old mill smell... I was at a flea market recently where they had small mill chutes and I had to smell them.[8|] Smells good to me, but weird.
 Here's a picture of the buckets the grain was carried in. Most of the belts are still intact (and weren't ever emptied). Mice must've had a field day when it first shut down. 
 The barn that went with the mill was torn down in the early 70s (didn't belong to us). There is also a wagon barn next door that our neighbors own. There was a wagon for the mill that I saw when I was 9 or 10. A guy named Horace Kirby owned it and we went to see it. It was technically new, because shortly after they bought the new wagon, they got a truck, so it just sat for years. Horace had an entire old general store set up in his barn with everything in it... most of the stuff was still in boxes on the shelves. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. I think a museum bought it, but I don't know which one.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 26, 2009)

My dad cleaned it out years ago. May be a few things buried, I guess, but the bottom is stony, not muddy. Here's a shot of where the springhouse used to stand. I've posted a story before, but here's a picture to go with it: When I was about 5, There was this white house in the water in here. I was with the neighbor's granddaughter and she was older than me and she pulled it out & gave it to her grandparents. I think they still have it, unless they've given it to her recently. I want it back! Just couldn't reach it myself! Still bitter!
 I'm thinking about checking upsteam, though. There used to be a fence thingy that stopped garbage from flowing into the mill. There may be stuff in there.
 (Plus the water is 42 degrees year round! Maybe I'll go wading in January!)


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 26, 2009)

Here's part of the local history section of my "borrow until they ask for it back" library.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 26, 2009)

A friend of theirs found this on ebay and bought it for them as a gift.


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## RedGinger (Aug 26, 2009)

Kate, you have to dig those privies!!  I couldn't let them sit there, undisturbed.  Joe and I will be arriving shortly[]


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 26, 2009)

Seriously - even my digging partner who's dug many privies says it's not worth it if it had the trough! One across the millrace first. []


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## capsoda (Aug 26, 2009)

When they dressed the stones I think it was in stilettos and strapless night gowns....[]

 It flattened the grinding face of the of the millstone (laying flat) and the grind stone (on edge).


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## RICKJJ59W (Aug 26, 2009)

Milk those cows!! its only 8 coins but it builds up hahahah


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 26, 2009)

Damn Farmer Rick - I didn't even know I had cows! I s**k as a farmer!


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## glass man (Aug 26, 2009)

THAT WAS WONDERFUL AND A WONDER-FUL PLACE! ON THE UPPER LEVELS ARE THERE DOORS THAT GO OUT? BE A BAD PLACE FOR DRUNKS OR SLEEP WALKERS IF SO! I WOULD HAVE LOVED GROWING UP THERE!! FAR OUT! WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE DID YOU EVER PRETEND IT WAS A CASTLE? [&:] JAMIE


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 26, 2009)

Glassman - I took the top view of my car from the 3rd floor. I don't like heights, so I don't go close to the edge. (I stay inside the mill on the third floor & stick my camera out the door, actually.) Second floor isn't so scary. I used to jump down from there, but wouldn't do it now.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 26, 2009)

I never pretended it was a castle. Got my first taste of castles when I was 4. The mill came before that. But I feel about the same way about mills as I do about castles in a way. I get excited when I see a mill. 

 The door on the first floor actually ended up being the most dangerous for me. When I was 15, my boyfriend and I used to 'talk' there. One night, we were there, and the drunk neighbor was walking around with his shotgun. Stopped right in front of us, but it was like he couldn't see us, he was so drunk. We just stood there not saying a word and he finally walked away. 

 Kate


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## mr.fred (Aug 26, 2009)

Great story and pictures Kate-------Great place for a Forum dig[]-----Fred.


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## RedGinger (Aug 26, 2009)

> ORIGINAL: RICKJJ59W
> 
> Milk those cows!! its only 8 coins but it builds up hahahah


 
 Rick, if you could send me a horse for my farm, I'd appreciate it.  Once I get enough cash, I can buy an outhouse!


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 26, 2009)

> ORIGINAL: mr.fred
> 
> Great story and pictures Kate-------Great place for a Forum dig[]-----Fred.


 
 Yeah - my mom would love that! 
 I pulled a lot of junk out of their yard and I always do it when they're not home so they don't yell at me. You can only be so neat when you find a barrel ring, you know?[8|]


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## RedGinger (Aug 26, 2009)

You're in the travel field.  Why not send them on a long vacation so you can do some more exploring?[]


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## bottle_head9 (Aug 26, 2009)

Kate, What a wonderful place! You said your dad had given up on restoring it.What a beautiful home it would make.The roof and walls seem to be in great shape.Did your parents ever consider turning it into a home?It`s very nice, thanks for sharing the pictures.  Tom []


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 26, 2009)

Cap - not sure about that licence plate, but they're all from the 70s or later. Belonged to my parents cars... I think that one is probably pretty new, cuz we got my dad a train license plate within the last few years. 
 I know there's a bicentennial plate in there, but  that's not it. 

 Red - yeah - easier said than done!


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 26, 2009)

BLASPHEMY! DO NOT SPEAK OF TURNING THE MILL INTO A HOUSE!


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 26, 2009)

Yeah - my dad will turn 71 this year, and at this point (since the developer tore the garage down across the street even though they can't develop there) they use it for storage.

 Recently may dad has replaced the floor in the main office and has done a lot of patchwork to the stone. My grandfather was a bricklayer, so my dad thought this would be easy for him, but he never actually learned the skill, so his patchjobs look like patchjobs. 

 About 10 years ago we had a really bad draught and it seemed to cause a little shifting in the mill. Floods also do some damage to it - mainly the supports for the first floor. 

 He's given up on ever actually restoring & running it, but mostly concerned with making sure it remains standing.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 26, 2009)

Oh yeah - besides the fact that I would never ever consider turning it into a house, I don't think that would be legal in the township, as it is in the floodplain.


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## bottle_head9 (Aug 26, 2009)

It would always be a mill, the only difference is you would eat and sleep in that beautiful place.It`s a very lovely place.


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## buzzkutt033 (Aug 27, 2009)

thanx kate for this wonderful thread........ love the photos.

 i took a few pix of a local mill. this one is located off Beagle Club road in Lehigh Township.............

 thanx again kate for taking the time to post all those great photos.............

 jim


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## buzzkutt033 (Aug 27, 2009)

a  couple grinding wheels laying around back. 

 the chase for this mill is one of the longer ones i've seen. it might have been natural off the creek, but i think someone dig a heck of a lot of handing digging way back when.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

Thanks Buzzcut... our headrace is very long and definitely dug. Probably close to a quarter mile. Hmm.. wonder if it wasn't always that long and the old one is filled in? Gotta think about that for a while. The dam is concrete, so it's not the original. Ponder Ponder Ponder... what if? Hmmm
 If you have more pictures of that mill, post away. I love mills!

 Got some more pictures for anyone that's interested. 

 Here's some of my jasper collection that I have on the laundryroom steps. I leave it there for safe keeping.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

Here's a door for Glassman. This is the 3rd floor. The other 2 floors have split dutch doors.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

I'm stuck on a possibility of the headrace being shorter now... The river is way closer in other areas, but the headrace would have to turn. Would be better to have a straight headrace, right? I think I'm just getting overexcited about bottle possibilities. I doubt there was ever a different route.

 Here's looking up in the 3rd floor.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

Another


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

Fanning mill


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

Looking at the house from the 3rd floor


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

One of the chutes looking down. Found a cat once in this one. Put a burlap sack down to get it to crawl out, but it didn't work. Cat was declawed and had to get a ladder.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

Looking down the steps. Look how worn they are.


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## glass man (Aug 27, 2009)

KATE THE WOOD IN THIS MILL IS AMAZING! BEAUTIFUL! HARD TO IMAGINE WOOD LASTING THAT LONG AND NOT BEING ROTTEN! LOVE THE SOFT COLOR OF THE COLOR OF THAT DOOR. IT IS GREAT TO SEE ALL THE CRAFTMANSHIP THAT WENT INTO MAKING ALL THOSE WOOD PARTS AND THEY LASTED FOR SO LONG! YANKEE INGENUITY! FAR OUT!                     MEANWHILE DOWN SOUTH-DANG JUST REALIZED WE GOT A MILL OF OUR VERY OWN RIGHT HERE IN HOOTERTOWN! IT WAS BUILT IN 1848 BY .....SLAVES! SHOCK,IN THE SOUTH SHOCK! [] I WILL TAKE SOME PICTURES OF IT SOON I HOPE SINCE WE SHARING. PEOPLE ALL MY LIFE TIME HAVE TRIED TO MAKE IT A RESTAURANT  AND FOR SOME RESON THEY ALWAYS GO OUT OF BUSINESS ,YET OTHERS COME AND TRY AGAIN.[:-] AIN'T THAT ONE  DEFFINITION  FOR INSANITY,TO DO THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AND EXPECT DIFFERENT RESULTS? SLAVES REVENGE? I HAVE WONDERED HOW THE SLAVES MADE THE DAM FOR THE CREEK SO LONG AGO ,FOR THE MILL RACE.HAD TO USE WHAT WAS HERE,BECAUSE THIS JOINT WAS BARELY SETTLED WHEN THE MILL WAS BUILT. [BY WHITE MEN ANY WAY] JAMIE


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

1st floor


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

1st floor


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## glass man (Aug 27, 2009)

> ORIGINAL:  pyshodoodle
> 
> Looking down the steps. Look how worn they are.


   WOW! WHEN I SEE SOMETHING LIKE THIS I ALWAYS WISH I COULD KNOW THE PEOPLE THAT WENT UP AND DOWN THOSE STEPS OVER THE MANY YEARS,HOW THEY DRESSED,HOW THEY TALKED,WHAT THEIR LIVES WERE LIKE. JAMIE


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

Side of mill looking at the original millers house


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## cobaltbot (Aug 27, 2009)

Very nice Kate.  Have you metal detected?  I've always had a thing for old mills.  I used to explore a couple when I was about thirteen and first got into bottles.  Older teens burnt both of therm to the ground[] I still get upset when a good piece of history is destroyed for little or no reason or for the almighty dollar.  We found out later that a local mill property was for sale at the same time ours was.  My wife was glad I didn't know about it at the time as they later had to move the house higher on the hill.  There's a certain feeling of awe that you get when you are inside the mill.  There was a mill on our main creek once, but no one knows where it was.  If it needed a millrace there's no sign of it now.  I have some promising looking foundation walls under the railroad right of way but not sure what they were and it may have been upstream or downstream from my property. Love that advertizing piece!


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

Looking the other way. The barn was across the street and to the right.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

Back of the mill. There used to be a linseed mill attached, which was torn down, but I don't know when.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

We excavated the foundation line of the linseed mill many years ago. Want to have myself a little archaeological dig back here, but I'm torn between doing that and digging where I know I can find stuff!


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## mr.fred (Aug 27, 2009)

Great pictures Kate!------my thing is the stone work on the building---i like it--i can picture them doing it[8D]


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

Workers house. Our former neighbor, Pete Genther, who died in his 90s, ripped the roof off of this to replace it. Was going to redo it for his mother to live in. I'm not sure if she died or what, but the roof never got replaced and it is now in ruins. This belongs to the neighbors, so I can't just go in there without permission and dig around. (They tell me it's dangerous and a rock may fall on me.) They had someone repoint part of it a few years back, but didn't do the whole thing.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

Glassman - I know what you mean. By metal detecting around the place, what I have learned is that it didn't always look this nice! There's weird garbage all over the middle of the yard! 
 Back of the house. 1900's addition. (aka kitchen & bathroom[])


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

Roof of wagon house. This belongs to the other neighbors. They used to have an antique shop in it. They're now in their 90's


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

Side of house.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

Front of house from across the street near where there used to be a chicken house. There were 3 chicken houses here when I was little. Morels grow every few years next to an old almost dead apple tree near here.





 stupid yellow line in the middle of the road was added in the last 10 years or so.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

Lookng at the mill from the side of the house.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

My Great Grandmother's sundial


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

OK - That's about all I have. 
 Hope some of you enjoyed this. I know it's not bottles, but it's not often that you see all the equipment inside an old gristmill. If the buildings themselves weren't ripped down, usually the equipment has been ripped out. (And possibly turned into a HOUSE![X(]).. At least they are still standing, if that's the case. 
 I remember visiting a working grist mill when I was a kid. Smelled great! was really neat, too. Don't know if they're still running it or not.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

> ORIGINAL:  mr.fred
> 
> Great pictures Kate!------my thing is the stone work on the building---i like it--i can picture them doing it[8D]


 Do you do stonework? If so, you can come help my dad. As you can see, his patch jobs are just that!

 There was a story that my dad had heard back in the 70s about one of the builders losing or placing his pipe in the mortar while they were building it. Just a few years ago, while my dad was repairing the window in the old office, he found pieces of pipe stem in the mortar.


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## mr.fred (Aug 27, 2009)

I have done some---fair hand at it---last year i did the old moose building--Brick!---my boss had me in a single man bucket truck[]-----i mixed my mortor ran the bucket up --the mix was hard----ended up----having to use tubes of mortor-------lots  of it!----he refused to setup anything to work off of---cost him a bundle[&:]-----I watched a Master stone man in the state park doing bridge work sure made it look easy[].


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

In 1975/76 during the Bicentennial Celebration, almost all local communities started a historical society if there hadn't been one before. That's when Lower Macungie Township Historical Society was founded. I have since discovered that, while many communities wrote a local history during the Bicentennial, most were rather weak (to put it politely). This surprised me, because this is what LMTHS produced in 9 months - over 300 pages of small print and pictures. They did a reprint in 1996 with minor updates and an index, which they did not have time for when they wrote the original. My parents where the primary writers, but there were others that assisted.


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

Here's one of the pages. This bridge is not in the township, but is local. It's in the chapter on Iron Furnaces, which is my dad's favorite subject. This bridge still stands, but was filled with slag before 1920, as they were concerned with bridge collapse. The road is still called Iron Bridge Rd (Parkland area off Cedar Crest for locals - check it out!). You would never know there is an iron bridge under there!


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

> ORIGINAL:  cobaltbot
> 
> Very nice Kate.Â  Have you metal detected?Â  I've always had a thing for old mills.Â  I used to explore a couple when I was about thirteen and first got into bottles.Â  Older teens burnt both of therm to the ground[]Â I still get upset when a good piece of history is destroyed for little or no reason or for the almighty dollar.Â  We found out later that a local mill property was for sale at the same time ours was.Â  My wife was glad I didn't know about it at the time as they later had to move the house higher on the hill.Â  There's a certain feeling of awe that you get when you are inside the mill.Â  There was a mill on our main creek once, but no one knows where it was.Â  If it needed a millrace there's no sign of it now.Â  I have some promising looking foundation walls under the railroad right of way but not sure what they were and it may have been upstream or downstream from my property. Love that advertizing piece!


 Yes, I metal detect. Haven't done their whole property. Only ever found 2 wheaties in the side yard that I did do pretty thoroughly. All other money was stuff we apparently lost. I found a silver ring on the far side of the mill that I lost when I was probably about 9 or 10. It's where I used to play in the leaves, so I'm sure that's how I lost it. Found a great sleigh bell on the other side of the millrace, too. Find a lot of garbage (horse shoes/lead weights/barrel rings/potmetal).  Definitely not done with the place. Upstream, they used to have old cottages that people used to stay at in the summer in the 20s-40s or so. It's on a hillside and there are steps down to the creek. I've tried metal detecting, but get frustrated, as it's very hard to walk on the hillside and I find too many canning jar lids. Kids also used to party there, so beercans are prevalent (they were still keepers when I was a kid, but didn't keep any). Many of these were still standing when I was young, but for a while, one seemed to burn down every year. One collapsed down the hill into the creek.  Still haven't given up on that place either, though. 
 Watch the millrace dig videos on youtube - they are facinating. What I don't understand is why there is so much old stuff in there unless the mill ceased operations very early. Our mill is not in a town, so if there is stuff in the millrace, I don't think there is going to be that much of it.


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## glass man (Aug 27, 2009)

WONDERFUL.BEAUTIFUL,AND INTERESTING. MY GREAT,GREAT,GRAND DAD HAD A CONTRACT WITH THE LOCAL IRON FURNACE FOR COKE.  WILL HAVE TO GO BACK AND CHECK ,BUT THE PERSON OR PERSONS THAT STARTED THE IRON FURNICE WERE FROM ,MASS. OR PENN. [LOTS OF IRON ORE ROUND HERE,STILL HUGE PITS WHERE IT WAS DUG OUT] THE STREET THAT RUNS BY WHERE THE FURNACE WAS IS STILL CALLED "FURNACE STREET".[1870S-EARLY 1900S] SPENT ALOT OF TIME LOOKING FOR BOTTLES AROND THERE.NOT MUCH LUCK EVEN THOUGH THERE WAS A STORE THERE. WHERE THE FURNACE WAS ,THERE WAS A DUMP FROM THE 1915 PERIOD,BUT THE PEOPLE THAT MOVED THERE HAD IT GRADED AND GOT THE BOTTLES. THE GUY OVER IT SAID THEY GOT 100'S OF 1915 COKE BOTTLES,[PLUS OF COURSE OTHER BOTTLES] BUT THEY WOULD NOT SHARE OR LET ME LOOK TO SEE IF THEY HAD OVERLOOKED ANY BOTTLES. DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM ALL.         MY DAD SAID EVEN IN THE 1920S WHEN HE WAS A BOY THE COKE PITS OF MY GREAT,GREAT,GRAND FATHER [OR WHAT EVER THEY WERE CALLED] WERE STILL SMOLDERING. POP SAID THERE WAS  TRASH ALL AROUND THEN AND THERE WAS STILL THE "COMISSARY POND" [MEANING A STORE THERE AND BOTTLES?] HE WAS ALWAYS GONNA TAKE ME AND SHOW ME AROUND. ONE THING WE NEVER GOT TO DO.[&o] JAMIE


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## cobaltbot (Aug 27, 2009)

Yeah, I think the millrace in those Treasure Hunter videos w/ Mud Slide Slim was abandoned very early and then used for the town dump.  This was common as there were way more mills out there than any of us know and many were done before the twentieth century, the exceptions lasting into the 1960's or so with very few of those operating today.  You've got a gem there forsure!  Keep detecting, the occasional finds never stop..


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## RedGinger (Aug 27, 2009)

Great pictures and interesting story, Kate.  That mill really makes the place.  You must have a lot of fun there!  Plus, I learned more about mills than I knew before.


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## GuntherHess (Aug 27, 2009)

I see not problem with converting that place to a house and living in it. I'd do it without hesitation if I owned it. Unless someone is willing to make it into a mill museum what other life does it have? It deserves to have a purpose, its too nice to sit idle.
 Flood plain? That thing has been there 200 years, its not going anywhere[]


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## pyshodoodle (Aug 27, 2009)

I guess if you like water in your first floor, that would be fine. But it's illegal anyway. Can't even rebuild the workers house because of the flood plain laws. Not even to use as storage. Could possibly get a permit for that situation, but it would be work to get it approved - turning the mill into a house - never. There is actually some kind of funding that pays for some homeowners to have their historic houses moved out of the floodplain.


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## Just Dig it (Aug 27, 2009)

its incredible that you can see the peak of the original structure before it was added onto on the building itself..great place ..lucky you []


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## GuntherHess (Aug 27, 2009)

You could make the first floor a boat dock. Whats more conveinant than that?


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## pyshodoodle (Jun 19, 2010)

Bump - since I just talked about it in another thread... in case anyone is interested.


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## JOETHECROW (Jun 19, 2010)

Kate,...thanks for re-upping that thread,...It was fun to go back through and re-read it.       Joe


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## Wangan (Jun 20, 2010)

Boy coincidences abound on here lately! I was just telling a co worker about your Mill and the worn down stairs last week.I love the old Mills and the smell of grain or freshly sawn lumber.Yours is beautiful.


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## pyshodoodle (Jun 20, 2010)

The smell of 60+ year old grain is a little different than the fresh stuff. [] I do like the smell, though. I have to go in there & take some more pics. Someone painted swallows on an I beam down by the waterwheel... and there are some signatures of the owners that didn't turn out when I was there. One wrote his name in Greek. Just makes you wonder where and why a miller would learn that & use it. Was he a jokester messing with future generations heads?


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## Wangan (Jun 20, 2010)

Maybe a college fraternity?[]


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## pyshodoodle (Jun 20, 2010)

Yeah - I hear that's where all the millers from the 19th century learned the trade! Could be... we've speculated about it for years.


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## Stardust (Jun 29, 2010)

What a wonderful delight Kate... We have a famous Grist Mill out in my neck of the woods that is quite famous along with the chapel across the street. The area has been used in many local movies. It has been one of my favorite places since a child. I love the smell, sounds, and water. []

 Thanks for sharing, you sure made my afternoon more enriched seeing your fantastic pictures and story.
 Enjoy.
 Star~*


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## pyshodoodle (Jun 29, 2010)

I'm always accepting pictures of old mills, Stardust! Glad you enjoyed it. I did enjoy growing up there.


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## JOETHECROW (Jun 29, 2010)

Kate,...I'll donate this one if you didn't have it already.


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## RedGinger (Jun 29, 2010)

Kate, you might consider one of your pictures for this photo contest:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/photography/


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## Stardust (Jun 30, 2010)

Joe,
 That is really neat, where was that one from? star~*


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## JOETHECROW (Jun 30, 2010)

It's near Lockport NY.


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## wolffbp (Jun 30, 2010)

Joe is correct, Lockport, NY area (Gasport actually) Known as the Royalton Mill. Here's an  aerial photo.


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## JOETHECROW (Jun 30, 2010)

Hey, that's pretty cool wolffbp!.....My freind that I dig with has distant relatives that were connected with that mill,....He lives right along the canal there in Gasport.....I was once in a large dump in Batavia, way back when I lived in the Java Center area...can't remember an awful lot about it, but I think I found a few good ones.


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## JOETHECROW (Jun 30, 2010)

Just for fun,....First a painting of the same mill...


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## JOETHECROW (Jun 30, 2010)

Second,....this one just goes to show,...you never know what you'll find on the internet. "A guard on the Great Wall of China" reading about Lockport Ny....[]

 I love this pic!....


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## wolffbp (Jul 1, 2010)

That must have been the "Doehler" dump, Joe.  That was a good one!  Big, deep and lot's of nice stuff. Ah, the good ol' days.


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## RedGinger (Jul 1, 2010)

What's up with that?  Cool painting too.  Wolfbp, have you been to the museum up in Lockport?  It looks like my kind of place.  Do you know anything about the underground tunnels with Victorian trash in the area?  Do you dig much?  

http://www.lockport-ny.com/Tourism/history.htm


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## wolffbp (Jul 1, 2010)

Never been to the museum there.  I don't live in western NY anymore.  Only dug in Lockport once.  Still dig as often as I can (which isn't nearly enough)


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## JOETHECROW (Jul 1, 2010)

Wolff, my digging pal had me and RedGinger up last spring for a dig,....we were able to dig a couple of pontiled meds....I used to love digging up that way,..Lot's of pontential for great Lockport glass, and lots of good age....Did you have good luck digging there (Lockport?) I also remember a guy that had a "honor" system antique bottle table set up on the Millersport Highway,...he always had a lot of Batavia bottles. some pretty decent. Put your money in the box,...take your bottle. Gotta love it.[] My buddy on the canal had a phone co. "ditchwitch" go across the front of his lawn...it kicked out three Oak Orchard Acid Springs bottles.


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## JOETHECROW (Jul 1, 2010)

Kate,..sorry to lead your thread 'down the garden path'...[]


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## whiskeyman (Jul 1, 2010)

KATE...fantastic pictures !! []
 I enjoy messing around old mills myself. I have some on my site as well as a page of millstones...all in my locality.  You'd be surprised at the uses a millstone has been put to: graveyard "monuments",  for one.


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## pyshodoodle (Jul 1, 2010)

> ORIGINAL:  whiskeyman
> 
> KATE...fantastic pictures !! []
> I enjoy messing around old mills myself. I have some on my site as well as a page of millstones...all in my locality.  You'd be surprised at the uses a millstone has been put to: graveyard "monuments",  for one.


 Thanks, whiskeyman... I tend to take a lot of pictures of cemeteries, too... I've never seen a millstone in one around here!
 I refuse to tell my dad that. He may decide that's a good idea. [8|]
 I just looked at your website and will have to take some more time to look at that. Very interesting! Thanks! 
 Actually - I see there's an ironworks link on there, too, so I'm going to send your website to my dad to look at. Hope he doesn't notice the gravestones. 

 Joe - not to worry - I know how one comment leads to another thought and things go off topic. I'm a chronic offender and I'll apologize here to everybody I've done that to. [&:]


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## Stardust (Jul 1, 2010)

Thanks for the info on the other mill. I love the painting and the view from above.


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## Stardust (Jul 1, 2010)

_This  is a beautiful mill in MA and across the road a bit is an Old Wayside Inn and the  Martha Mary Chapel. They have been used in several movies. The waiting  list to get married there is years. They go from the Chapel to the mill  for pics by horse and carriage. The inn is so old there is no dancing  allowed there.These pics don't do  it justice. It's a must see if you come up this way.  



http://www.freefoto.com/preview/1212-11-3?ffid=1212-11-3
_ _Picture of Longfellow Wayside  Inn Grist Mill, Sudbury, Massachusetts, USA - Free Pictures -  FreeFoto.com__




__
 History, Art and Literature | Wayside Inn

http://www.wayside.org/history

_ [/align]


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## cyberdigger (Oct 4, 2010)

..I love this thread..


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## wolffbp (Mar 21, 2011)

Just found a new photo of the Royalton Mill.  Had to post this for Joe.


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## JOETHECROW (Mar 21, 2011)

Awesome pic Brian,...I'm lovin' that one.


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## tigue710 (Mar 30, 2011)

Thanks... I love it


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