Ingrained in History

by Lydia Weaver, Community Relations Specialist

There’s no shortage of history in the Valley, but one homeowner is truly living in the past. This unique home in Shenandoah County is older than the country listed in its address. Originally built in 1772, this former mill has witnessed and withstood plenty of history. From nearby Civil War battles to rural electrification, if they could talk, these thoughtfully laid stone walls would have stories to tell.

Housing an apartment, garage, community room, workshop, library, playroom and office, this building is more than an old mill. The historically registered Stoner-Keller Mill is a home to college students, a meeting place for Boy Scouts and a valued workspace for the owner, William Erbach. Erbach bought the property in 1974, moved to the location in 1989, and has researched the history of his home. Much like its use today, the structure has served various functions for the area of Fishers Hill. Beyond its initial purpose as a grist mill, the building has housed a feedstore in its adjoining portion, added in the early 1900s, and a small Fishers Hill post office, sited at what is now the front porch area.

When Erbach moved to the property, the mill was no longer functioning. One major undertaking was rerouting the water supply to get the metal wheel turning again. Even though the original wooden wheel was replaced by a steel wheel in the 1890s, the mill hadn’t run since the early 1960s. By then, the mill’s grindstones were running on generator-based electricity, rather than water, because the dam had collapsed in the 1950s.

A er purchase, Erbach had the old pipes removed and replacements put into the ground stemming from a new, lower dam. He added a distribution system underground that sends the water upward through a pipe, creating a shoulder-shot wheel, where the water enters from just below the top to create rotary motion. When the mill was operational, it had an over-shot wheel, where the water entered at the highest point of the wheel, but because the newer dam is lower and has less water pressure, adjustments were made. ough the water was also directed upward in the past, the rerouting needed a lower wheel-entry point to supply enough volume of water to make the wheel spin. Erbach was successful in getting the wheel turning again, but now, it’s just for show.

Erbach shared one particularly interesting story about the mill. He says, “Fishers Hill had electricity before Strasburg.” Apparently, John Keller, who ran the mill, had engineered electric generators to run from the wheel, while the mill simultaneously did its primary job of grinding grain. He only operated during the day and was known to turn the system o on Sundays a er the evening church service. is resulted in the small town’s residents rushing home to use the provided power before it was gone for the evening. By the time Keller died and his sons took over, the town already had grid service provided.

Besides the renovations done to the mill many decades ago, Erbach also made a bit of his own mark on the structure. One of the most loved additions is a wraparound deck o ering a better view of the water wheel’s action. He also put a small extension on the lower part of an existing addition (where the old feedstore had been) so it could be used as a garage and fully cover a vehicle’s length. e only other exterior change he made was adding the front porch, which now also has a ramp entrance.

When asked why Erbach and his wife landed on Fishers Hill as their property purchase, he says a hand higher than his own guided them.

“Martha and I were given the task to resurrect this area in Fishers Hill,” he says, “To bring it back to what it one time was.” e inside does feature a few more “contemporary” conveniences. Despite the modern-day advancements of the 1970s, when the Erbach’s initially purchased the property, there was no electricity on-site. ere was a springhouse across the street to fetch water and an outhouse in the back. Now, the building is livable with lights, bathrooms and a kitchen. With a library of at least 7,000 books inside, one needs to be able to keep reading when the sun goes down. Even with the modi cations, Erbach says, “I don’t see modern here.” e hand-hewn beams from the 1770s are exposed throughout the mill. Some even show the visible wear and chunks notched out to allow room for larger wheels to spin inside the space as they were replaced over the years. Metal now reinforces the wood where pieces are missing to stabilize the structure, but it doesn’t hide the evidence of many years of labor that once took place inside.

As for original machinery, not much remains. ere is a working scale in the oor of what’s now the great room and a millstone still in the basement workshop area. Another remaining millstone has been incorporated into the sidewalk out front. Most of the equipment was sold when the mill closed, but luckily, the steel wheel has always been the headturning main attraction.

Not many buildings of this age are still standing, much less comfortable enough to live in, so Erbach truly has a gem. And now that it’s formally recognized as a historical structure, it will continue to live on.

Nifty Nest is an occasional feature that highlights a co-op member who takes a creative touch to powering their lives. If you know of a structure that stands out from the crowd, please submit suggestions to svecpr@svec.coop.