The Perryopolis Pre-Industrial Complex

The Perryopolis Pre-Industrial Complex. . , For some 200 years after the arrival of the first Europeans, the average settlement had to be self-supporting. Food, clothing and shelter were produced locally. Some of the raw materials used for these essentials required processing before they could be used. Grain needed to be ground, trees needed to be sawn, hand-woven woolen cloth needed to be fulled. As a result, almost as soon as the first houses were built, small industries, such as sawmills, gristmills, fulling mills, and distilleries, sprang up along rivers and streams., The Perryopolis pre-industrial complex is one of the only original pre-industrial sites remaining in the country. Development of the complex began just prior to the War for Independence when George Washington instructed his overseer, Gilbert Simpson, to constructed a grist mill on lands he had purchased in 1769, when land in Western Pennsylvania became available for settlement. Milling operations began in 1776; they concluded in 1918. (The grist mill history and the milling process are explained at the mill site.), The distillery, located adjacent to the grist mill, was built in c. 1790. Distilleries were crucial on the early frontier as they processed surplus grains into the only cash product (whiskey) which could be exchanged for needed products settlers could not produce for themselves. When the newly formed federal government imposed a tax on whiskey in 1791, the "Whiskey Rebellion" erupted across the entire frontier, but most violently in Western Pennsylvania. (The distillery history and distilling process is explained on site.), Before the advent of stoves, baking was done in open hearth fireplaces or in an oven built especially for that purpose. The bakery located on the site is believed to have been constructed in c.1890. The lower level of the building contains the original stone bake oven where up to 200 loves of bread could be baked in one day. The second floor was used as storage for flour and other ingredients; the lean-to for firewood to heat the oven. The bakery is associated with the Smith family, the last owners/operators of the grist mill. It was reconstructed in 1981., Approximately 1/10th of a mile southwest of the grist mill is a fulling mill, constructed in c.1814. Fulling mills provided the final step in the processing of wool into cloth. Archaeological research indicates that a saw mill was located just below the fulling mill. Both mills utilized a common mill pond and raceway for their operations. (The fulling process is explained on site).