Shown is a panoramic view of Sharondale Farm as sketched in 1876 for the Brown County Atlas. This scene is viewed as if the observer is on Zane’s Trace looking west. The Sharondale Mill is in dead center of the picture and it’s partially obscured by trees. The fine brick home erected ca. 1860 by Titus Fulton is situated on the left, also obscured by trees. It and the cupola topped cattle barn beside it are still standing today. The little covered bridge on the far right spanned Big Three Mile Creek and was erected in 1868. It was removed by the state many years ago.
(By Stephen Kelley from the People’s Defender 1984)
Continuing our journey up Zane’s Trace, a little over one-mile north of Aberdeen we come to the intersection of Ohio 763. This road drops deeply off the west side of Zane’s Trace and crosses over to Three Mile Creek. This is the old Slickaway road which led to a small community by the same name.
The Slickaway road was rebuilt and macadamized with public funds in 1868-70. At that time, it was named the Aberdeen and Huntington Free Turnpike.
Within just a short distance of this intersection there were built at least four different grist mills on Three Mile Creek, three of these, Shelton’s, Reeder’s and Boone’s, were originally log buildings whereas the fourth, Worstell’s, was a small stone building.
The Worstell mill had been built on the east bank of the creek ca. 1825 by Simon Reeder for his still house.
However, his places for constructing a distillery fell through and the structure stood unused until 1855. It was purchased that year by a group of businessmen who then converted the stone structure into a grist mill. It was then acquired in 1857 by I.H. Worstell who remodeled it and kept the mill in production throughout the Civil War years. Following the end of that great conflict, Worstell removed the milling equipment from the building and converted it into its originally intended use, a whiskey distillery. This quaint little structure no longer stands.
The Boone mill was built in the 1820’s by Daniel Boone (not the Daniel Boone of Kentucky fame.) He sold the log building in 1832 to Mr. Hickson who resold it within a few months to the partnership of Parker & Wright. They rebuilt the structure and converted it from waterpower to steam power. William Carpenter bought the mill from Parker & Wright in 1835 and operated it until 1844. In that year, Dr. Thomas M. Moore, our subject of the past two weeks, bought the business and named it the Sharondale Mill. Within a year after acquiring the mill, Dr. Moore took Titus B. Fulton into partnership with him. Together, the two ran the mill until 1857 when Fulton bought out Dr. Moore’s interest and continued in the business alone until 1874.
Jacob Pimm, a native of Chester County Pennsylvania, was the next owner of the Sharondale Mill. He had just moved from his native state and was looking for a mill to purchase when Fulton put his on the market. Pimm ran the operation for two years then took A. R. Brookover as a partner. Unfortunately, things did not work out and Brookover declared bankruptcy in 1878. His share of the business was then acquired by William Bradford who also bought Pimm’s interest. Bradford then ran the mill until May, 1882 when the structure burned to the ground.
