In 1869, Benjamin Franklin Shriver (known to friends and family as “Frank”) started a cannery to preserve excess crops from his father’s farming and milling business. He set up a small canning operation in the cooper’s shop adjacent to the grist mill at Union Mills, owned by his father William Shriver. From this modest shop, where B.F. Shriver began packing corn and cherries, grew one of Maryland’s largest canning businesses.
Author Archives: Sam Riley
The Maryland Microbrewery Festival was held Saturday, September 28, 2019 at the Union Mills Homestead. The event, held on a hot sunny day at the historic site, closed out Carroll County Beer Week on a high note. The Maryland Microbrewery Festival, now in its fourteenth year, dates back to 2006 when a group of board members at the Union Mills Homestead Foundation, Inc. were looking for a new event that
The gardens at the Union Mills Homestead have been graced the last few weeks by beautiful butterflies that flutter from plant to plant providing hours of entertainment for visitors to the site. Butterflies and other pollinators are certainly fun to watch, but also perform an important role in the garden. Early Planning Pays Later in the Season You may recall that the slogan for our Flower & Plant Market this
The 49th Annual Corn Roast Festival at the Union Mills Homestead successfully concluded on August 3, 2019, after feeding almost 1900 guests. For six hours, hungry patrons were served plates of roasted chicken, sliced tomatoes, apple sauce, and a roll, and all the roasted corn they could eat. Guests of All Ages By the time the event opened at 11 a.m., a long line had formed. Customers included many loyal
Look for a new entrance into the Corn Roast this year. The historic Bollman Bridge (the iron bridge over the tail race) is under construction so we can’t use it for our Corn Roast entrance as we have in the past. The event entrance will be through the picket fence by the gift shop. Please keep an eye out for vehicle traffic as you make your way into and out
Welcome to our new website! We hope you enjoy this site and find it informative. A special thank you to our talented web designer, Susan Shugars, for her vision and hard work to bring this project to fruition. And thank you to our Union Mills Homestead staff, in particular Melinda Setren, for the initiative to make this happen.