Houston's Mill / Willow Mill
Cumberland Co. | Pennsylvania | USA
Watersource: Conodoquinet Creek.
Houston's Mill / Willow Mill
Go north on Pa 114 from Mechanicsburg, Pa. past US 11 0.3 miles and turn left on Willow Mill Park Road. Go 0.7 miles on this road to the mill oppisite the junction of Willow Park Road and Skyline Drive.
The mill is at the community of Houston's Mill on Willow Mill Park Rd. north of Hogestown from US 11.
This is another view of the Old mill at Hogestown, in Cumberland County, from 1910-18.
The mill is a 2.5 story limestone mill measuring about 45' by 60' built in 1795 and known then as the John Walker Mill.
In this vintage 1910 photo, the mill was known as Houston's Mill, also the name given to the little hamlet.
Piers out in the Conodoquinet Creek that used to support a covered bridge that continued Skyline Drive across Willow Park Road, the creek and connecting with Old Willow Mill Road on the east side of the Conodoquinet Creek.
Canadian geese clustered on a small island in the Conodoquinet Creek just upstream of the old bridge piers.
The mill used to have two doors, one above the other, as seen in the vintage photo. Today, the upper door has been stortened to a window and the lower door broadened into a garage size door. The low dormer windows, since boarded up, on the south side have been added since 1910.
The rear of the mill showing the inlet arch for the millrace on the north side. *Update: Houston's/Hustin's Mill, in a country where they are tearing down mills, is being preserved. They have created a non-profit association and raised money fix the foundation (done) and they are turning it into a community center. It should also be noted; at one point in time, this mill and property was owned by Raymond DeWalt/ the inventor of the cross cut saw. Brad Filipovich 06/02/2009*