Caroline County, Maryland

The Friends of Linchester Mill is a local preservation group that formed to save a richly historic but little known mill dating to the American colonial period. Historians say the mill is among the oldest—some even say it is the oldest—free enterprise business in the nation. During the Revolutionary War, the mill produced wheat flour and cornmeal for George Washington's army while it wintered and trained at Valley Forge. Despite its significance, the site was mostly forgotten and the most recent (but still centuries old) mill on the site had fallen into disrepair.

The Friends of Linchester Mill needed assistance in preserving, restoring, and interpreting this location that has been the site of mills since 1681. Members of the group approached Colonel Richardson High School in Caroline County (the county is also home to the mill) to inquire whether it was possible to create a service-learning project that would help students learn local and national history through the mill site, and provide essential volunteer help to preserve the mill. Maryland was the first state in the nation to require service learning in its schools, and working together the school and the Friends group created a program that helped toward preservation and awareness of the mill.

In year one, students worked on the mill itself. In year two, students worked on a handicapped-accessible interpretive trail that helps visitors understand what took place at the mill. The school's service-learning coordinator noted that while the mill is in an area where the students have lived all their lives, many were unaware of its existence before the service-learning effort. "Now we hear that kids are taking their parents to visit it," he said.

To learn more about the Colonel Richardson High School/Friends of Linchester Mill service learning project, click here (3105K ppt).