Bitzer's Mill / West Earl Flour Mill / Eberly's Cider Mill
Lancaster Co. | Pennsylvania | USA
Watersource: Conestoga River.
Bitzer's Mill / West Earl Flour Mill / Eberly's Cider Mill
While driving east from Ephrata, turn right on Cabin Road after passing US 222. Cabin Road becomes Conestoga Creek Road. Turn left on Cider Mill Road and the mill is on the left before the covered bridge.
The originally 45'X 50' limestone mill of 3.5 stories has someway and sometime been reduced to a 45'X 20', 3.5 story limestone mill with additions off each side.
One source has the mill built in 1800 by a man named Martin, while another claims the mill was built by John Bitzer perhaps as late as 1864. An 1824 map of the county depicts the site as the location of Youndt's Fulling Mill; although no tax records exist in Earl Township of a Youndt owning such a mill. He could have been leasing the mill.
John Bitzer owned the sometimes grist, flour, saw, and cider mill in 1864. The progression of ownership goes as such; Henry Martin in 1875, Martin Frandt in 1899, and closed by Nathan C. Eberly in 1933.
Three turbines and one overshot wheel powered the mill, but maybe not all in the same time period. A long headrace and a 50' tailrace were fed from a 6' dam upstream, enabling the mill to produce 20 barrels/day of flour when operating as a flour mill. The mill was in neglected condition in 1987, but has become part of business venture for the Amish owner and has been given a rejuvenating lease on life for the present, 2006.
Latitude: N39 55.90 Longitude: W76 17.64