The Wheel That Grinds: Mills in Renfrew’s Past

Part One of Annual Lecture Series 2018: Keep the Wheels Turning. Presented by Will Sheppard, Historic Archaeologist and Anthropology Instructor.

Will Sheppard has been a historic archaeologist for 25 years, with a long-standing relationship to the Renfrew property. The program will focus on the mills associated with the Royers, the family who settled on the land now known as Renfrew Park. The talk will include early saw mills on South Mountain, Bark Mill at the tannery site on the property, and the grist mill. Sheppard will review the overall history of the industrial farmstead, and will use historic mill stones on the property (donated by Waynesboro’s Alexander Hamilton Free Library) to serve as a touchstone in a discussion of other 19th-century mills in the region. Sheppard will also discuss the wheel as technology, innovation, and its role in general to human history. A PowerPoint presentation will illustrate the talk. Free. For more information, call 717-762-0373 or email to [email protected].