The 35'X 45' 3.5 story grist mill has since been remodeled in the late 1980's although it was a residence when this picture was taken.

The mill was built by John & Joseph Shaw and Cornelius McKinney in 1739 on 29 acres purchased from Isaac Pennington & William Buckman. The grist & saw Mill was one of probably eight along the Neshaminy Cr. and its tributaries in Northampton Twp. The Shaws operated the mill for three generations before selling to Richard Leedom in 1792. Leedom expanded the mill around 1800, including the grinding of plaster (of paris), acommon thing to grind various products as well as grain. Some rebuilding was also done in 1847, to the Willow Mill Complex that included a two miller's houses, a springhouse, and barn.

The late 1700's & early 1800's saw Bucks County's main industries being corn and wheat milling for settlers use and lumber milling to provide raw material for Houses and barns. Philadelphia was for a time the center of flour milling in the nation.

*Update: I bought the Shaw Mill in March of 2004, the attached picture shows the renovations that were described in your text in the 80s, including changing the doors for windows. We have done mostly landscape and interior work.

Update cont'd: The Willow Mill complex (the mill the 1847 Sager Mill house and the 1740 Joseph Shaw house) was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 primarily through the work of Sylvia Amato who owns the Joseph Shaw house. Dave Sterlace 12/28/2006*

*Update: The builder/owner of the miller's house across the road, Joseph Shaw Mill House which the state refers to as the Shaw-Leedom House, was also the original miller for Shaw's Mill, a gentleman named Joseph Shaw who died before the Am. Revolution. Then the property in 1761 was purchased by Richard Leedom, a prominent citizen/tavern-owner, the Black Bear Tavern in Northampton, who bought the mill for his son William to run. The Shaw-Leedom House is now owned by Sylvia & Carmen Amato, prominent members of Northampton Twp. Hist. Society.

Update cont'd: The property adjacent to the mill is the Sager House and it was the miller's house, though not original, owing to a fire that destroyed all but the foundation of the 1747 structure. The Sager House was owned by Adolph & Florence Hertzog, then Kathy & Lary Belikoff.

Update cont'd: The mill that Dave and Shay Sterlace own is known variously as Willow Mill or Shaw's Mill or Hertzog Corner's Mill givng credit to Joseph Shaw and his father John who built both a grist and saw mill on that property. Neil & Maureen Sagot owned the mill prior to the Sterlaces. It is unusual to find three such intact and inter-related structures still standing today in Bucks Co. given the penchant of society to tear down the old to make way for the new. Sylvia Amato 07/09/2007*