Settlers often traveled large distances to a mill and had to wait for their flour to be ground. A general store was often opened near a mill where travelers could rest and eat a meal and get supplies. Extra flour could be traded for other products. Other shops or craftspeople often set up shop and an area began to be settled. Roads, houses and churches were built and a village started. Many area villages "grew up" around the mill. As local mill use declined, if other things did not draw settlers to the area, many of these villages remained small or disappeared. Other villages developed into towns of various sizes.

Village of Kintnersville. Note the mill in the distance.		The Kintnersville Mill as it appears today. The mill today is an antiques cooperative.
The water wheel of this mill ( in the darkened area under the porch) remarkably has remained in place on site. The wheel is protected by the porch and by the lack of water on site (due to a dried up mill pond).		The major structures of the wheel can be viewed outside of the building. The base of the wheel is rotted and with other missing parts, the wheel can no longer turn.
The powerful waterwheel during its use, turned a gearwheel inside of the building. Note the sturdy center post seen here continues inside of the mill.		Several gearwheels still remain inside the basement of the building. These vertical gearwheels meshed with a horizontal gear wheel ( as seen at left center) which spun the top millstone (on the floor above) in a horizontal direction.
Ten spokes on the wheel provide support for the buckets. Mortise and tenon joints and pegs were used to construct the wheel.		Large metal bands that helped to keep the wooden forms in place are no longer attached to the wheel (seen on the lawn in a photo above left).

Find out more about area mills by linking to pages in other sections of the Pennridge Grassroots Web Site: Mills of West Rockhill, Mill Use (Hilltown Mill -Swenk's Mill), and Perkasie Mills of the Past.

*Local villages where Stover family mill buildings still exist are listed below. Some of the buildings have been transformed significantly into residences or other business uses, and others have changed little on the outside or inside of the building.These buildings include: