As early as 1795, a mill at this location, was offered for lease in the "Maryland Journal." Hugh Reynolds and David Bryan advertised that they owned the mill. P. Thomas offered the mill, lately rebuilt, for lease in 1802.

Some remains of outbuildings associated with the working days of the mill. The original mill was replaced with a new one built by Wilham E. Williams in 1813. The mill race was about 2 miles long, supplying water to power two sixteen foot diameter overshot wheels.

The old Cersville/Kelly Mill as it appeared yesterday (March 6, 2018). Considerable work to preserve and restore evidenced here.

Photo taken 9-1-2015. The For Sale sign which cannot be missed taken from across Route 26. Presumably this was once one of the main entrances to the mill.

The view of the old Ceresville Mill/Kelly Mill taken from just across the exit to Ceresville Mansion (near the sign to the same) - edge of car parked on left is roughly parallel to where the rusted old spoke wheel still lies. Everything is so overgrown with brush - and in general the Ceresville Mill/Kelly Mill has been permitted to deteriorate to such an extent that photos similar to those above will not be ever be possible to recreate.

Another source has George Williams building the new mill on the 600 acres on Liberty Road, replacing the earlier mill built in 1790. The middle bay on left side, ground entry level door has a 5 pane transom above the door. Above this is a stone header with the date built chiseled on it which reads 1813.

The photo shows some milling machinery from the 1900's. Several differing stories appear in regards to the date of the next ownership. One source has the mill and the original Mansion house, next to the mill, sold by General Williams to Cornelius Shriner in 1816, while the second chronicle has the mill ownership changing to Cornelius Shriner in 1829 from William's trustee.

The photo shows some old rollers used in the roller milling process on the ground outside of the mill after it was stripped of its equipment. Shriner, with the assistance of his son, Edward A. Shriner, developed the business into the most productive grist mill in the state of Maryland. In its prime, the mill produced sixty barrels of flour per day, all driven by the waters of Israel Creek. The mill wheels annually ground over 100,000 bushels of wheat and 25,000 bushels of hops.

The interior of the door between the brick section of the Old Mill and the "red barn" section. I love the weathered time-worn look of this door. You really are not supposed to be in here (I stayed only long enough to peek and take a photo). Windows off the walkway allow you to glimpse inside both halves of the Old Mill; there is still some debris but compared to a few years ago when people literally were dumping their garbage inside, things look very good.

The mill ground wheat into flour through the 19th and early 20th centuries using the brand names of Snow Drift and Pure Gold flours. Corn meal, hominy, and stock feeds were also produced.

Cornelius Shriner was also an original director of Frederick County National Bank and established both the Frederick and Woodsboro Pike Company and the Liberty and Frederick Pike Company. When Cornelius Shriner died in 1854, his son Edward continued to oversee the prosperous milling operation, having been willed the mill from his father's estate. Edward A. Shriner built the current Ceresville Mansion, adjacent to the mill, in 1888 as a wedding anniversary present for his wife. A photo from the 1970's when the mill was operating, very soon to be closed.

The waterpower was supplimented by steam in 1850 and by electricity later in the 1890's. The mill was sold to the Felton family in 1903, which operated the enterprise until 1947.

At one time, the mill was run with turbine power using water from the Monocacy River. The business was sold to the Kelly family in 1947. The Kelly Feed Mill operation lasted until the mill was finally closed in 1988. Click on the website above the first photo. This will bring you to the photos of equipment removal. Click on "Mills of Frederick County" on the left of first pictures to see more photos of Ceresville Mill by clicking No Title P1284.

The Kelly family sold the mill to some one who thought he could resell the structure at a quick profit. The flour making machinery, including the roller milling process, could all function, and were in good condition, but the new owner, thinking no one would want to run or would know how to run a flour mill, cleaned out the mill's office of all records, and began removing the flour mill machinery. The mill sat vacant for about 20 years; then, some alternative use plans were formulated. One plan was to renovate to accomodate a church congregation. Apparently this didn't materialize. Since 2008, a new aspect has come on the scene.

Concluding photo -- the Old Ceresville/Kelly Mill from a distance (the entry road that leads back to Ceresville Mansion). Could not help but look beyond the winter and the horizon and wonder what the future holds for both the Old Mill and our country, our world.

Some office and retail tenants seek the charm of renovated older buildings and enjoy their structural flaws as character, said Timothy S. Hogan, vice president of Hogan Cos., a land brokerage business in Annapolis. Hogan's company is under contract to purchase the four-story Kelly Mill behind the nearby Ceresville Mansion on Liberty Road. The deteriorating stone structure will likely require between $700,000 and $800,000 in upgrades, including installing electricity, to convert it to modern office and retail space, Hogan said recently from the site's littered parking lot. Preservation efforts will include saving machinery from the building for display in what Hogan envisions will be a roughly 5,000-square-foot restaurant on ground level.** Feb.15, 2008 article by Rebecca McClay for Gazette.net