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Historic Bears Mill
Two Historic Mills
announce Collaborative Event
In celebration of Historic Preservation Month, historic sites Bear's
Mill with Staley Mill Farm and Indian Creek Distillery will initiate an
innovative new fund-raising event on Saturday, May 4 and Saturday, May
18. “Mills and Stills” will feature informational tours of both sites
plus food and music; additionally, the Gallery at Bear's Mill will be
exhibiting watercolors of Staley Mill Farm created by the late Roger
Haas plus new pottery created by four local clay artists that recalls
the art of the whiskey vessel. Hours for the event are from 5 p.m.
until 9 p.m. both evenings.
Staley Mill, the oldest grist mill still standing in Ohio, began
operation in 1818, thirty-one years before Gabriel Baer built the
structure now called Bear's Mill. In 1820, a distillery was established
at the Staley Homestead; with the exception of a decade following the
Civil War, this distillery produced rye whiskey until Prohibition was
enacted in 1920. That building no longer stands, but a new distillery
has been built and is producing rye whiskey in the same copper pot
stills that were used almost two hundred years ago. Both the Staley
Mill and Indian Creek Distillery will be open for touring during “Mills
and Stills;” tastings will also be available.
After Gabriel Baer sold his mill in 1862, the structure saw many owners
who provided varying degrees of stewardship; however, the original
framework and the inner workings of Bear's Mill put in place in 1849
remain intact and functional. The original French buhr stones still
grind local grains into flours and meals which are sold at the Mill
Shop; demonstrations of this process will be included in “Mills and
Stills” activities.
Tickets for “Mills and Stills” are $35, and are available at Bear's
Mill and Staley Mill Farm's Indian Creek Distillery. Ticket price
includes all of the amenities previously mentioned, plus a map guiding
participants' travel between the two locations. Deadline for purchasing
tickets for the May 4 event is April 27; tickets for May 18 will remain
available until May 11.
Bear's Mill is located at 6450 Arcanum-Bear's Mill Road, Greenville;
the Staley Mill Farm and Distillery's address is 7095 Staley Road, New
Carlisle. For more information, contact Bear's Mill at 937-548-5112 or
Staley Mill Farm and Indian Creek Distillery at 937-846-1443.
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