The 2.5 story 45'X 43' sandstone mill has keystone lintels and interlocking corner quoins of a most decorative style. Built by John Nagle in 179,4 the mill was water-powered from Beaver Creek.

The mill appears on the Adams County list from SPOOM, but it is actually in York County by about 500 feet. AKA - Beaver Creek Mill. The mill was built in 1794 for Abraham Swigart by John Nagle, a mason whose name is inscribed on the date stone on the West gable of the mill. It is the only original mill on Beaver Creek still standing.

*Update: The original power in Swigart's Mill was a wooden overshot, a water wheel inside the mill. In 1890 a Rechard turbine was installed by William B. Feiser, a millwright, who purchased the mill in 1890 and remodeled it throughout. The Rechard turbine was made in York, Pa. Today (2006), the mill has a working 13' Fitz Water Wheel made in Hanover, Pa. The water for the wheel is no longer supplied by the Beaver Creek, but is pumped from an underground spring into the pit where the wheel is located. .

Update cont'd: The original power in Swigart's Mill was a wooden overshot, a water wheel inside the mill. In 1890 a Rechard turbine was installed by William B. Feiser, a millwright, who purchased the mill in 1890 and remodeled it throughout. The Rechard turbine was made in York, Pa. Today (2006), the mill has a working 13' Fitz Water Wheel made in Hanover, Pa. The grinding equipment was four-run of stones. The mill ground feed, corn meal and flour. At an early date, it sawed lumber as well. The entire operation was abandoned in 1920. All of the equipment was sold for scrap.

Update cont'd: Today the East Berlin Historaical Preservation Society uses the mill to house and display local mill related artifacts. Swigart's Mill has had 27 owners over its life. Swigart's Mill was entered in the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The mill has been well cared for since then.. Robert T. Kinsey 02/14/06*