Lancaster Eagle Gazette June 25, 1991

Rock Mill is mute reminder of Past by Katrina Predmore

        New Englanders Joseph Loveland and Hezekiah Smith erected the first mill in 1799 at Rock Mill, named for the rocks in that particular area. They were said to have been traveling west and reached no further when they spotted the scenic site.

         The original building was a log grist mill on the upper falls of the Hocking River, the first built on the river. It's located on old Columbus Marietta Road a few miles from Lancaster.

         Smith and Loveland were said to have sold goods at their mill brought from Detroit on pack horses. The primary supplies were corn bread, potatoes, milk, butter and wild meats. Flour, teas and coffee was scarce and quite expensive if available. The mill, at its site handy to travelers, became a resting place, a general supply stop and a bartering spot for Indians.

        Romance is associated with the old mill, according to an Eagle Gazette article in 1988 by Sue Daniels, Loveland courted and won a Miss Shellenbarger, whose father owned a mill at the lower falls of the Hocking River.

        Another mill was built in the basin below the falls around 1820, but it was washed our by a flood. It was rebuilt in 1824 and was powered like the mill destroyed by flood, by an overshot wheel. This wheel was 26 feet in diameter.

        In addition to Smith and Loveland, the mill has had several owners during its long history. Christian Morehart and Joseph Knabenshue took over from Smith and Loveland, followed by Phillip Homrighous and then John Foor.

        The building was remodeled in 1899 to install a turbine over the falls to replace the outmoded water wheel. Proving unsatisfactory, the turbine was changed to steam power. The remodeling was done by Marion Solt, Foor and Edward and Jacob Alspach. A gentleman named Mr Talley became the new mill owner and was in turn bought out by J. P. Gundy and F. H. Barlow. W. S. Alspach was the last owner of the building while it was still in milling. It stopped operating in 1905. The mill is now owned by Fairfield County Historical Parks. This organization is spearheading a major renovation project at the site.
 

Photograph of Rockmill, donated to The Wagnalls Memorial. Picture taken circa - 1890.

The first buhr stones used to grind flour and corn meal in Rock Mill probably were of French derivation or from local quarries in eastern Pennsylvania.         Three main floors of the building's five floors were used for general milling. Beams inside the building were of hand hewn oak.         In the historical photo to the right, (courtesy of  Len Hajost ) a photographer and his camera provide a scale to visualize the sheer size of the building.

Excerpt from Crossroads and Fence Corners by Charles Goslin, 1976

Page 120
        Bloom Township, one of the 11 townships of Fairfield County listed in tax assessment
book of 1806, is known in legal transactions as Township 14, Range 20.
Page 121
        With Franklin County as its west boundary, Bloom Township (organized in 1805) is bordered on the north by Violet Township: on the east by Greenfield Township: on the south by
Amanda Township.
        Although no early roads (before 1802) reached Bloom Township and no navigable streams reached this township, Bloom was settled in the early days of Fairfield County. An
abundance of strong flowing springs may have attracted the early settlers.
        The most famous of these springs were at Jefferson. The waters from these springs were bottled and sold in Columbus under the name ”Jefferson Spring Water”. The waters from these springs were much in demand during a typhoid fever scare which hit central Ohio about the turn
of the century.
 

Among the early residents were the Delaware Indians. Their Indian camp, known as Tobytown, was located in Bloom Township on Page 123         The banks of Little Walnut Creek which heads in this township. The first settlers called this stream Toby Creek because of this small Indian Camp.         Also, within Bloom Township the Hocking River has its beginning. From the center of the township (where Section 16, 17, 20 and 21 meet) the waters drain in four directions.

        Flowing northward are the small streams which empty into Walnut Creek. Flowing west out of Bloom Township is Big Run. The waters draining south reach Little Walnut and Clear Creek. Flowing east are the waters of the Hocking River, a stream that may have been named by the early Indians of Tobytown.
        Among the first roads laid out in what is now Fairfield County was the New Lancaster-Franklinton Road, opened to Rockmill in 1802 and extended through Bloom Township in 1803.
        The first north-south road across Bloom Township was the Wheeling to the Lakes Road established in 1811. This early road, known as the War Road, passed through Greencastle (laid out in 1815) and Jefferson which was established in 1806, or thereabouts.
        Religion and education were important to the first settlers of Bloom Township. As early as 1805, Abraham Courtright taught school in this township. According to the county records, land for a school west of Rockmill was granted in 1820 by Henry Leopart. The school which stood on this land was known as Number 5 school.
Page 124
        Botanically, there are things of interest in Bloom Township. Many interesting plants grow on Chestnut Ridge. The largest Kentucky coffeetrees in Ohio and possibly North America, grow in this township, on outpost for the American Chestnut.

January 23, 1965