In search of understanding about growing and milling hemp in York County's past

By Jim McClure
Source: ydr.com



Les Stark, a marijuana activist in Pennsylvania, believes this photograph shows an old hemp mill.

Mark Walters of The Evening Sun in Hanover is seeking more information on this mill, originally published in this YorkTownSquare spread about the Colonial Valley Mill in Menges Mills.

The sellers of the Heidelberg Township mill, now under new ownership, believed this was part of the Colonial Valley operation. Indeed, mills could be – and were – used for various types of milling over their long lives. (Indeed, in a contemporary version of this, the Colonial Valley mill has been converted into a scream park today for Halloween.)

This YorkTownSquare story provides insight into hemp as an agricultural product in York County, with the number of hemp mills estimated at as many as 20 in 1810. A contemporary researcher, Betsy Shaw, believes the number was probably closer to nine. ‘It would be interesting to figure out if these mills were crushing the hemp to separate the fibers from the woody parts of the plant, which is a special job,’ Betsy wrote, ‘or if they were mainly functioning as oil mills to express oil from flax seed & hemp seed or any other oily seeds they might get their hands on.’

If you have any other information about this photograph or other hemp mills in York County, contact Mark Walters, who is writing a story of hemp in the region.