Saint Vincent Gristmill and Westlands

Saint Vincent Gristmill and Westlands. . , Today Saint Vincent is a thriving Archabbey, College, Seminary, and Parish...But when Father Boniface Wimmer and 18 followers arrived here from Germany in 1846, they found only a small frontier parish and 300 acres of natural resources. Here at this location, you can see how the Benedictines used these natural resources-along with their own ingenuity, vision, and talents-to build a self-sufficient foundation for their simple life of prayer and ministry to the community. You can also see how the tradition of stewardship and community continues today., Saint Vincent Archabbey Gristmill, In the nearby fields... , Benedictines grew wheat, corn, barley, rye, oats, and buckwheat. To turn those harvests into flour for bread and food for their animals the monks built the gristmill you see here. It was one of the first buildings they constructed and it has operated consistently since 1854., At its peak in 1913, the mill ground enough flour to make more than 150,000 pounds of "Saint Vincent Bread." This crusty, hearty loaf with no preservatives or shortening fed the students and monks of Saint Vincent and was sold in the secular community., In recent years, the mill grinds enough flour for the Benedictines to enjoy Saint Vincent Bread at almost every meal, to make Holy Eucharist hosts for local churches, and to offer a limited amount of its rich, nutritious stone-ground flour for sale to the public., In the 1990s insurance problems with the wooden mill seemed to leave no option but to demolish it. A creative plan by the Benedictines, supported by area foundations, saved it-preserving the last remaining vestige of Father Wimmer's original physical plant, and a tradition of milling that has been uninterrupted since 1854. Today, the Gristmill houses a Museum and General Store and continues to serve as a vital part of the Saint Vincent community., Wetland Treatment System, In nearby outcroppings and under the surface of the ground... , There were rich deposits of the 19th century's most important fuel-coal. A number of independent, for profit companies mined this coal, which heated nearby homes, fueled industry, and even made steam that powered the gristmill until it was converted to electricity in 1952., But the mining took its toll on the mill and on the community. Subsidence caused the mill to crack and settle and seriously flooded the basement., In the late 1960s after removing the easily accessible coal, the independent companies closed the mines and, as was the practice of the day, abandoned them. Soon the abandoned mine voids filled with water. The water picked up minerals such as pyrite from the mine and carried them into the nearby stream, polluting it and turning it a distinctive orange color., True to the community values of their early brothers, the modern day Benedictines of Saint Vincent and other members of the Loyalhanna Mine Drainage Coalition found a way to remove this pollution and restore the health of the stream. The Saint Vincent College Environmental Education Center, housed at the Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve, has a classroom in the Gristmill and offers educational programs on the wetlands., The wetlands behind the gristmill are completely passive-there are no pumps, motors, electricity or chemicals. By simply using natural processes, the wetlands remove as much as 90 percent of the polluting iron oxide that forms when pyrite reacts with oxygen. So the stream is fit for wildlife and humans to enjoy., (Photo Caption):, Early coal miners with the tools of their trade, including, from left, unidentified, George Huszar, Joe Hooley, Andy "Sacco" Lawrence, unidentified, Paul Schell. Photo courtesy of the Westmoreland Historical Society.