James Barkley Mill
Chester Co. | Pennsylvania | USA
Watersource: Knight Run.
James Barkley Mill
From the junction of Pa 41 & Pa 10, take Old Gap/Newport Rd. north from Cochranville, turn left on Center Hall School Rd. then right on Steelville Rd. Go about 0.8 mile to the mill on the north side of the creek on the hillside.
A large stone mill, 45' X 55' of 3.5 stories.
There is supposed to be a corner datestone reading James Barkley-1733. Couldn't find that stone, but there is a stone high on the end towards the road in concrete where a door was filled in. This is mostly indeciferable-closest guess is Sigmund D. Hempstead 184_?
The doors have not been cemented in on the back side of the former mill, converted into a barn for storage.
The non-operational mill, according to a neighbor, was rebuilt in 1842 by Alexander Hodgeson. Barkley probably built the early mill, as just up the road, Barkley Road goes off to the right.
The house across the road on the same ridge may or may not be the miller's house. The elderly lady sitting on the porch didn't know much about the mill. The neighbor said the mill palce was above the mill, same side, on up the hill.
The mill is very visible on appraoch from the south on Steelville Road. GPS: Longitude, -075 56.46'W; latitude, 39 54.25'N