The "Millstones And More Millstones" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Carol and I are heading south on SR324 (aka Marticville Road) to try and find the location of a wall along the side of the road that is allegedly made from millstones.  Address was supposed to be 10 Hilldale Road, but with all the sharp turns in the road it will be tough to read the mailboxes along the side of the road.  I turned off Marticville Road onto Hilldale Road and after rounding a curve in the road, Carol yelled, "There's the wall!"  

The millstone wall in southern Lancaster County

Too late to stop, but I pulled into a driveway a hundred yards further along the road and turned around.  Sure enough, there was a wall of millstones which was extremely hard to see since the growth along the side of the road had covered much of the millstones.  So why is there a millstone wall built into the side of the road?  Seems that the fellow who lived in the house, Paul Flory, worked at the family business known as Flory's Mill which was about a mile from his home on Hilldale Road.  

A building nearby showing millstones.

The mill used large rounded stones to turn grain into flour.  These stones were known as millstones and weighed a hundred pounds or more.  In the early 1900's mills around the county were beginning to close so Paul bought millstones from those mills that closed and took them to his home to repurpose them.  How he did this is a mystery to many.  He collected more than 300 millstones and used some in the wall he built near his house.  The current owner of the property got the house and all the millstones when he bought the place.  He found that some were very rare and donated them to museums; some even making their way to the Smithsonian Museum.  Down the road from the millstone wall was located Flory's Mill which sat along a small stream known as Climber's Run.  

The original mill built by Abraham Keagy in 1770.
Known today as The House at Climber's Run.

It was first built by Abraham Keagy in 1770 and was a 30 feet by 40 feet by 3.5 stories high timber-framed mill.  Henry Keagy took over operation until 1783 when it switched hands to Richard Keagy in 1785.  By the end of the year Richard had sold the mill to Rudolph Keagy who proceeded to build a new mill a year later.  This mill was 40 feet by 55 feet by 3.5 stories high.  Richard reacquired the mill in 1792 and sold it in 1795 to Abraham Kendig.  It passed hands six more times until it closed in 1923 under ownership of Benjamin Flory; thus the name of Flory's Mill.  

This is Flory's Mill at 894 Marticville Road.  It was a mill
at one time, but is now a private residence.  It is beautiful!

In 1999 the structure was remodeled and served as a private dwelling.  It was resold in August of 2017 to it's present owner.  The place is beautiful, but being it is on private property, I couldn't walk around it.  Standing a close distance to it is the original mill that was built in 1770 which makes it older than America herself.  It too is in beautiful shape and you can stay there if you are in need of lodging.  

Another view of Flory's Mill which is a private residence.

For information you can contact The House at Climber's Run.  If you stay there you have access to many of the original documents including deeds, photographs and stories passed down through the generations.  Now, a brief description as to what is a grist mill.  It grinds cereal grain into flour.  

Final view of Flory's Mill.

The term grist mill was used for a local mill where farmers brought their own grain and received back ground meal or flour, minus a percentage called the "miller's toll."  Most towns and villages had their own mill so the local farmers could easily transport their grain there to be milled.  Communities were dependent on these local mills since bread was a staple part of their diet.  Most mills were water-powered and used the water from a water source to power a water wheel which was usually mounted vertically inside the mill.  

Behind the properties is Climber's Run.

Through a series of gears the millstones would be turned.  One stone was laid on top of another with the bottom stone called the bed which was fastened to the floor.  The top millstone, called the runner, was mounted on a separate spindle driven by the main shaft and called the runner.  Grinding the grain between the two wheels made flour and moving the wheels closer together produced finer flour.  The runner stone had grooves in it that channelled the flour into sacks.  I realize this is a very simple explanation, but one that I thought would be easy to understand.  Well, I got my photographs of both of the mills as well as the wall of millstones and headed home.  I will make another trip to the same area soon to gather information about Postlethwaite's Tavern.  But, that's another story.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an oridnary guy.