Sharer's Mill / Redsecker's Mill / Aberdeen Mills
Dauphin Co. | Pennsylvania | USA
Watersource: Conewago Creek.
Sharer's Mill / Redsecker's Mill / Aberdeen Mills
From Pa 241 in Elizabethtown, go NW on N. Market St. for 3-4 miles, turn right on Hoffer Road,go about 1 mile, continue right or straight another mile on N. Hertzler Road. At Mill Road turn right to the creek; the mill is off to the left before the creek.
Two miles NW of Elizabethtown on the north side of the Conewago Creek from the town of Aberdeen, Pa. in Lancaster County. The mill was built in 1774 and in 1994,was being used for a woodworking shop and business.
*Update: AKA -Redsecker's Mill. The mill was built c.1774 by Uriah & Barbara Sharer on 300 acres of land granted by Wm. Penn. During the Revolutionary War, ground wheat was sent to the Army to support the fight for independence. Three generations of the Sharer family ran the mill until the mid 1800's when the Redseckers bought the mill. They owned it till the end of the 1800's. In early 1900's, A. L. Gantz bought the mill and continued operations.
The present owner (I don't know what year they are talking about), Herbert Miller, had worked in the mill for several years before purchasing it. Miller kept the mill open until 1965, when he closed it with the idea of opening it later, but never did. I don't know if the Millers own the mill today. It seems to me that it was up for sale some years ago. Robert T. Kinsey 02/24/06*
The 40'X 45' main structure is 2.5 stories high, constructed of red sandstone/frame with a dormer and off center cupola. A 16'X 30', 2 story stone and frame wing projects from the left front toward the road. A frame 40'X 40' 1.5 story frame addition is connected to the end/front where the vertical doors were originally under the sack hoist/catshead.
Date stone: Uriah & Barbera Sharer, 1774 located on the main mill sructure facing the road near the corner.
Closer view of the main mill building.