Just who is Belsnickel? To some the answer may come readily, but for others it is an unknown word. The Belsnickel and related Kris Kindle customs trace to the Palatinate area of Germany. During the early 1700s, these customs were brought to North America by early German immigrants. For many Pennsylvania German families, Kris Kindle or Christkindle was the St. Nick of the Santa Claus tradition, who slips down chimneys
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.
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