Pry's Grist Mill
Washington Co. | Maryland | USA
Watersource: Little Antietum Creek.
Pry's Grist Mill
Keedysville is in the southern part of the county. From Md 34 at the south end of Keedysville, go west on Keedysville Road about 0.8 miles to the mill on the left. The mill sits down over a hill at a sharp right turn in the road. The mill can easily be seen in the winter, but no so easily in the summer.
The 20.25 acre property on Little Antietam Creek was bequeathed to Samuel Merritt Hitt by Robert Smith on October 28, 1818. GPS: 77' 42.51W, 39' 29.06N ADC map (ADC 13 D1) (B11)
A two story, two-section grist and saw mill was constructed about 1820 by Hitt, who diverted the established road so that traffic would pass his mill.
In 1846, Samuel & Barbara Hitt sold the mill to Lewis Watson. A year later, brothers Samuel & Philip Pry purchased the mill.
Samuel, the sole owner and proprietor in 1850, rebuilt the mill in its present form, the upper brick portion added onto the stone foundation, after a fire just prior to 1850.
Jonathan Letterman picked the mill as one of seven Union military hospitals because of the mills proximity to many of the battles of the Civil War, in particular the Battle of Antietum. The war prospered Samuel and ruined Philip; as the Manifacturing Census of 1880 included Pry's Mill as one of Washington County's top five mills.
The property remained in the Pry family until 1941, with milling operations ceasing in 1926. The mill was added to the National Register of Historic Places on 04/12/1979. The mill has been partly restored/renovated as a private residence.