Visit historic Newlin Grist Mill on Saturday, September 21st from 10am to 4pm to experience the Fall Festival, an event filled with history, archaeology, and family fun!
The festival features a wide variety of demonstrations, displays, performances, and hands-on activities for all ages. Scheduled demonstrations and displays include wood carving and lathe turning; textile arts to include spinning, tape-weaving, flax processing, colonial dyes, and bobbin lace making; a silhouette artist and Scherenschnitte paper-cutting; open-hearth cooking; beer brewing and cider making displays; early American horticulture; chair caning; ropemaking, knot-tying, and navigation. Festivalgoers can learn English country dancing with the Heritage Dancers and listen to the historical harmonies of the Colonial Revelers singers. Families can also enjoy face painting, historic toys and games, and hayrides. In addition, the site’s Millwright Shop and Blacksmith Shop will have demonstrations ongoing throughout the day, and sections of the 1704 Grist Mill will be open to visitors.
This year, the site’s archaeology festival has been incorporated into the Fall Festival, so the event will also include archaeological excavations and activities. Professional archaeologists will be excavating Trimble House outbuildings in the Historic Area; West Chester University’s archaeology program will be demonstrating ground-penetrating radar; visitors will have a chance to help screen excavated soil, clean artifacts, and learn about artifact illustration; and local artifacts will be on display. Young visitors can try their hand at excavating in the Kids’ Dig and reconstructing ceramic artifacts!
Vendors in the Colonial Market will offer up handcrafted goods for sale, including baskets, textiles, woodcrafts, decorative paper-covered boxes, soaps, honey, stone-ground cornmeal, and more. Local businesses and organizations will be featured in the Community Corner. Fresh baked goods straight out of the Half-Crown Bakehouse’s wood-fired oven will be available for purchase, and Fletcher’s Kitchen food truck will also be on site offering yummy 21st-century eats! For the adults, the festival’s Tavern will feature beverages from Deer Creek Malthouse and Penns Woods Winery.
Admission to the Fall Festival is free. Parking is $5 per car (cash only). Newlin Grist Mill is located at 219 Cheyney Road, Glen Mills, PA 19342. Shuttle buses between the parking area and the festival site will run every 15 minutes throughout the event. Additional costs may apply for certain activities. For more information, visit newlingristmill.org/fall-festival/ or call the site at 610-459-2359.
The Fall Festival is held in partnership with the Delaware County Planning Department and is made possible in part by the generous sponsorship of Team Toyota of Glen Mills & Univest Insurance, with additional support from Amerihealth Caritas, Chandler Funeral Home, H&H Heating and Air Conditioning, IT Edge, John Milner Architects, Visit Delco PA, Wegmans, and WSFS Bank.
About The Nicholas Newlin Foundation
Founded in 1960, the purpose of the Nicholas Newlin Foundation is to preserve our land and historic buildings for the pleasure and education of the public. In an area of urban growth, the Foundation maintains open land as a refuge for plants, animals, and birds, and for the people who come to enjoy them. In an era of digital technology, it offers visitors insights into the vanished life of the rural eighteenth century. This two-fold objective of environmental and historical concerns is combined in a single theme wherever possible. Following the ideals of its founder, E. Mortimer Newlin, the Foundation will strive to enhance its service to the public, while securing its future by managing its finances wisely.
