Pictures of old grist mill

[mr.fred]

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[].

 

[pyshodoodle]

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.

 

[pyshodoodle]

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!

 

[pyshodoodle]

ORIGINAL: cobaltbot

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!

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.

 

[glass man]

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

 

[cobaltbot]

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..

 

[RedGinger]

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.

 

[GuntherHess]

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[]

 

[pyshodoodle]

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.

 

[Just Dig it]

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 []