Cecil's Mill Historic District - St. Mary's County MD
N 38° 14.434 W 076° 30.203
18S E 368435 N 4233575
Cecil's Old Mill and Cecil's General Store are remnants from the industrial and textile commerce of St. Mary's County, MD in the late 19th/early 20th centuries.
Waymark Code: WMEE49
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 05/14/2012
Views: 1
The Cecil's Mill Historic District in Great Mills, Maryland of St. Mary's County is significant for being the site of an early 20th-century mill which is the only mill from that era still in existence.
Originally a factory was built at the location in the early 1800s and it served as an industrial and business center to other mills along the St. Mary's River. The factory had a sawmill and gristmill, but it primarily manufactured cotton goods and provided an economy outside the tobacco industry of southern Maryland. Because of overgrazing by the sheep and poor land conditions, the textile operation eventually failed. John Cecil bought the factory in 1882 and continued to run it and another nearby mill, until they were destroyed in a flood. In 1900, John rebuilt the mill that exists today. He retained the foundation and some of the machinery.
In 1927, after John's death, his son H. Robb Cecil brought in a diesel generator which was the first of its kind in St. Mary's County. The gristmill discontinued operation in the 1940s because of competition from store-bought bread which had become widely available. The sawmill was shut down in 1959 after H. Robb was fatally injured by a saw tooth.
Across the street was the general store which was built in the early 1900s. It also served as a post office for years. Next to the store was the Cecil home and the old Holy Face Church, both built in the 1800s. The church was abandoned about the same time the gristmill closed.
In 1975, J. Allen. and William Cecil donated Cecil's Mill to the St. Mary's County Historical Society and J. Allen closed the store. In 1978, the district was entered on the NRHP.
The mill and store have been refurbished and turned into a museum and showcase for local arts and crafts. Many of the original parts remain in the old mill. In the 1980s, William Clements restored the diesel engine and reconstructed the sawmill. He still runs demonstrations once a year. The water wheel was restored in 2002. The now-defunct post office and original display cases, including a wooden icebox, can still be seen in Cecil's Country Store which has been reopened for business.
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