Mill Monday 05 – Drumore

Welcome to another edition of Mill Monday! Every Monday morning, I feature a grist mill located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Today, I am featuring a mill in the southwestern part of the county, along a small tributary of the Susquehanna River called Fishing Creek. The Drumore Mill, also known as the Pennock Mill, in Drumore Township.

The first mill on this site as built by George McCullough in 1743. The mill was known as Cowgill’s mill in 1748. In 1752, Benjamin Johnson acquired the mill, operating it as a water corn mill. Caleb Johnson bought it in 1759, Matt McCally, Joseph Morrison, and Samuel Morrison owned it from 1767-1769, running it as a grist and fulling mill. Next, John Nelson purchased it in 1769 until he sold it to Henry Bauman (Bowman) in 1773.

Bauman built a new mill in 1789 and it was used as a clover seed mill. From 1796 to 1816 Jacob Gryder owned the mill on Fishing Creek. Simon Pennock became the owner in 1817. The mill remained in the Pennock family for the next sixty years. Robert Pennock in 1939, Hadley Pennock in 1856, and William Pennock in 1864. A notice in the July 24, 1871 edition of the Intelligencer Journal stated, “Granville Pennock’s flouring mill, on Fishing Creek, which has been standing idle for a number of years, has been recently repaired and entire new works put in it, and is now in operation, running two sets of burrs. The services of an excellent miller from the Brandywine are engaged.” J. Edgar Brown was the owner in 1899. At the turn of the century, ownership transferred to Civil War veteran, James Cramer, who enlarged the sawmill and owned the mill until his death in 1922. The Cramer estate was offered for sale on June 6, 1936.

The water source for the mill was provided by a six-foot dam on the Fishing Creek. Water was funneled through a short, thirty-foot headrace to power a single turbine. Water returned to the creek by way of a 500-foot tailrace. Capacity is listed as eight barrels per day.

On July 19, 2015, the fully restored Drumore Mill was offered for sale as a residence. Then, on October 30, 2017, the Drumore Mill on Harmony Ridge was proposed as a wedding and event venue. Today the mill has been fully renovated and is available as a beautiful wedding venue and corporate retreat called “Drumore Mill on Harmony”. The site features breathtaking views of the Fishing Creek which flows directly behind the structure. The venue has a page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Drumoremill/

The mill is located at 1658 Harmony Ridge Road, Drumore, PA.

More photographs of the mill may be found on this website at https://donaldkautz.com/mills/drumore-mill/.

See you next week for another Monday Mill!

Mill stories wanted! If you know an interesting story about something that happened in relation to one of the Lancaster County grist mills, I want to hear it. Drop me a line at dlkautzphoto@gmail.com.