Mill Details

Bernheisel Mill

Perry Co. | Pennsylvania | USA
Known Dates: 1826
Township: Tyrone Twp.
Watersource: Montour Creek.
Location / Directions

Bernheisel Mill

Seven miles west of New Bloomfield, Pa. on Pa 274, take a right turn onto Pa 74 for 0.3 miles to junction with Green Park Road on the left. Mill is just beyond on Pa 74 on the left by Montour Creek.




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Verse for Thought
"But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place which I have chosen to set my name there."
({Nehemiah 1:9 KJV})
Bernheisel Mill
Jim Miller 11/1992

The mill is deserted and doesn't appear to be used for anything. The presence of scaffolding suggests that someone had started to make some repairs or renovations, but this looks to have been some time ago. The 3.5 story brick mill contained most of it equipment as of Nov. 1992. The 35'x55' grinding structure was powered by Montour Creek and also steam from a brick steam engine house across the road. Also a brick miller's house, c. 1812, is nearby.

Bernheisel Mill
Ted R. Hazen

Prior to the 1990's restoration of the mill there was an equally large wooden saw mill structured attached to this end of the mill. The mill contained two pairs of millstones, and a sack hoist or windlass. In the mill's basement was a complete wooden water wheel, and it was a complete pre-Oliver Evans mill. The mill has been recently sold again, and its future is unknown.

Bernheisel Mill
Pat Cook

*Update Steve Kidd 11-12-04* The mill has had some renovating since 1992, and has a much better appearance now. Photo courtesy of Pat Cook.

Bernheisel Mill
Robert T. Kinsey 01/03/2007

Jacob Arnold, an engineering specialist for Siemens Building Technologies, has been slowly restoring the old 1826 mill a little at a time.

Bernheisel Mill
Robert T. Kinsey 01/03/2007

Arnold, used to designing HW/AC systems for large industrial buildings, has determined to restore the building, begiining about 2000, to turn the old mill into a museum.

Bernheisel Mill
Robert T. Kinsey 01/03/2007

The mill, which operated into the mid-1920's, was made obsolete by faster, more productive and therefore more economical mills, at that time.

Bernheisel Mill
Robert T. Kinsey 01/03/2007

The old remnants of the waterwheel lies in the dark recesses of the basement. The headrace has been diverted from the original pathway, some of the land being owned by the West Perry School District.

Bernheisel Mill
Robert T. Kinsey 01/03/2007

Sh 74 is now an obstruction to get water from Montour Creek to the mill, since having been paved, the culvert conducting water under the road was demolished and an old auxillery steam plant on the opposite side of the road was only an existing foundation.

Bernheisel Mill
Robert T. Kinsey 01/03/2007

Some portions of the mill are greatly distressed, while others look as though the workers just left for the night, to return in the morning to resume operations. Arnold plans to hand-crasft much of the missing wooden mechanisms that are missing or too badl deteriorated. In 2000, he was being helped by his father, Glenn Arnold.

Bernheisel Mill
Rober T. Kinsey 01/03/2007

Arnold would like to form non-profit organization so he will be able to apply for and receive federal and historical grants to fund his restoration. The mill was purchased in April 2000 along with 11 acres and the brick miller's house, c. 1812, into which he has almost ready to inhabit.GPS: 40? 22.95'N, 77? 18.46'W 620' elevation

 
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