
The Burnt Cabins Grist Mill in January 2009. The Grist Mill has been on the National Register since 1980.
The miller was depended upon for his skill and for his honesty. Many tales from throughout the world have depicted those who failed to live up to either quality, most famous among them those of the Middle English author Geoffrey Chaucer. Nowadays in the era of automation and pre-sliced bread, few ever think about how the miller did his job and how bread arrives in the stores. There are a few places remaining, however, where the curious can go to see what the old fashioned millers used to do. One of them lies in the northeast Fulton County town of Burnt Cabins.
One of the oldest buildings in the tiny town is the Burnt Cabins Grist Mill. The Historic American Engineering Record describes it merely as a “two-and-a-half-story clapboard structure with a corrugated-metal roof and double-hung, four-over-four windows.” But as anyone associated with old-time milling could say, there’s a lot more to a mill than just the mill building.

When water flows through the mill trace, this wheel provides the power to grind the grain on the floor above.
As the water hits the 14 foot overshot waterwheel inside the building (the larger wheel positioned near the Little Aughwick is merely for show, according to the Harnishes), it turns a series of shafts that eventually move the 1500 pound burr stones that grind the grain into flour. The current millers grind primarily cornmeal and pancake mixes. In former days, however, the mill would grind grain for products for humans or for animal feed. Food safety laws stopped that practice in the 1960s.
The flour produced by the burr stones drops through the floor to the bottom floor. Mixing with other grinds of flour and additional grains take place to manufacture the products the Mill sells today. Flour used to be transported to the attic via a series of pulleys and tin cups for sifting; the sifting system hasn’t worked for years, though the current millers hold its renewal as a fond dream. During the 1960s, the mill went dormant, resulting in the deterioration of some operational capabilities.

In addition to raising grant money to support the site, the Blattenbergers had restored much of the internal workings on their own during the 1970s and 1980s, as well as developing a gourmet mill products business. Part of the site has also served as “Ye Olde Mill Family Campground,” raising money to maintain the historic site. With their purchase of the operation in 2006, the Harnishes have continued running the mill and campsite and working towards further restorations of the Mill.
Through the work of the Blattenbergers and the Harnishes, the Mill site is more secure than it has been during various points of its history. William Collins records that both William H. Vanderbilt’s South Penn Railroad (a would-be rival to the mighty Pennsylvania Railroad) and the Pennsylvania Turnpike each nearly destroyed the site during the decades-long ownership of the Baldwin family. Last minute financial issues saved it from the railroad and final decisions on the route of the Turnpike diverted the road from its original route through the Mill.

The mill race brings water from the Little Aughwick Creek to the mill. The path of the race in this picture travels a nearly horizontal path slightly above half way up the picture, until it sharply turns to meet the mill.
But…just how does a town garner a name like “Burnt Cabins?” Upon hearing that the name came about in the 1750s, most would guess that local Native American tribes had stormed the settlers, burned their dwellings, and reclaimed their land. There was a land dispute at the center of the name’s story, but not the stereotypical tale just outlined.
As a measure of good faith with the Native American nations and no small degree of realpolitik with their French rivals in the area comprising what is now western Pennsylvania and the Ohio Country, the British colonies made pacts agreeing to keep their settlers east of the Appalachian Mountains. Despite the official government position on the matter, settlers from the east in Pennsylvania and from the south in Maryland and Virginia began to trickle into the area that is now Fulton County and other regions. By mid 1749, the flow had so begun to threaten the various groups of the Iroquois Confederation that they made official protest to the Provincial government in Philadelphia.
In response to the Senecas’ complaint of July 18, 1749, the Lieutenant Governor of the Province, James Hamilton, issued an edict to all British subjects:
I…do hereby, in His Majesty’s Name strictly charge, command, and enjoin all and every the persons who have presum’d to settle in any part of the Province Westward of the Blue Hills to remove themselves, their Families & Effects, off those Lands.

This grain will be ground between the wheels and will drop down to the floor below for further processing.
In May 1750, the provincial government sent several agents into what was then Cumberland County to remove the white “squatters” from their cabins and settlements, including Sidneysville. Among these agents were the famous translator and missionary Conrad Weiser, justice of the peace George Croghan, and Secretary of the Provincial Council Richard Peters. Delegates from the Iroquois nations accompanied them, largely so they could be shown the King’s word being fulfilled.
Beginning on May 22, the party climbed Tuscarora Mountain (named after one of the six Iroquois nations), and evicted several settlers. In the ensuing days, the party split up to cover more territory. Volwiler describes some of the reaction:
About sixty squatters were found. The original intentions were to arrest, convict, fine and imprison them, but two of the first five arrested fled calling back: “You may take our Land and Houses and do what you please with them, . . . but we will not be carried to Gaol.” A third squatter met the officials with a loaded gun.
After that, mass evictions were the rule, secured with financial bonds. But legal niceties of that sort seldom make for satisfying, tangible justice. As a gesture to the Indians, the provincial officials decided to burn the cabins of Sidneysville. Not all, however. Actually, only a token three cabins were destroyed. Volwiler quotes Secretary Peters as writing: “the Cabbins or Log Houses which we burnt were of no considerable Value, being such as the Country People erect in a Day or two. . .”

1500 pound burr stones grind the grain to a fine consistency.
Both peace and the Weiser/Croghan/Peters mission failed in 1755. Settlers returned to the valleys. Shawnees and Delawares attacked in great force in what became known as the Great Cove Massacre. And Sidneysville was reborn, but not as Sidneysville or even as New Sidneysville. In commemoration of the settlers who had lost their homes five years earlier, the area became known as Burnt Cabins.
The National Park Service has recognized the importance of this little town and its Grist Mill by placing each of them on the National Register of Historic Places: the Grist Mill in 1980; the town itself in 1998.
The Burnt Cabins Grist Mill is open for tours during the summer. More can be found on its availability and products here.
Sources:
- Angeline, Danielle M. “Historic Burnt Cabins, Pennsylvania.” Picket News. 19 June 2005. 14 Nov. 2010. <http://www.picketnews.com/archiveDetail.asp?cID=1&id=1390>.
- “Burnt Cabins Gristmill Property.” National Register of Historic Places. 28 Nov. 1980. 14 Nov. 2010 <http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov>.
- Collins, William J. “Rehabilitating Historic Timber Transportation Structures at Burnt Cabins Grist Mill, Burnt Cabins, Pennsylvania.” Ritter, Michael A.; Duwadi, Sheila Rimal; Lee, Paula D. Hilbrich, eds. National Conference on Wood Transportation Structures. Gen. Tech. Rep. FPL-GTR-94. Madison, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, 1996. 72-81.
- Greathead, Elsie S. The History of Fulton County, Pennsylvania. McConnellsburg, PA: Fulton County News, 1936.
- Harnisch, Greg & Dawn. Personal Interview. 31 Jan. 2009.
- Historic American Engineering Record. “Burnt Cabins Gristmill, Spanning South branch of Little Aughwick Creek, East of State Route 1010 , Burnt Cabins, Fulton, PA.” Historic American Buildings Survey. Library of Congress. 1990. 14 Nov. 2010 <http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/PA3238/>.
- “Marking Time.” Pennsylvania Heritage 28.3 (Summer 2002): 49.
- Mellott, Mildred Peterson. “A Short History of Burnt Cabins.” Burnt Cabins, Pennsylvania & Near About Places. Burnt Cabins, PA: Burnt Cabins Cemetery Association and Burnt Cabins Civic Association, 2007. 1-3.
- “National Register of Historical Places – Pennsylvania (PA), Fulton County.” National Register of Historic Places. 14 Nov. 2010 <http://www/nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/pa/Fulton/state.html>.
- Volwiler, A.T. “George Croghan and the Westward Movement, 1741-1782, Chapter II.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 47.1 (1 Jan 1923): 28-57.
- Wagoner, Shirley A. “Captain Jack: Man or Myth?” Pennsylvania History 46.2 (Apr. 1979): 99-118.