A favorite spot in the 1300-acre Spring Mill State Park with its caves, riding trails, inn and woods, is their fascinating Pioneer Village, a pioneer settlement featuring 20 historic buildings including an old distillery, tavern and 3-story limestone gristmill, built in 1817, that continues to grind cornmeal today.

Restored in the mid 1930s, Pioneer Village introduces visitors to early settler life as heritage interpreters, dressed in period costumes, work the old water powered gristmill and sell the freshly ground cornmeal.

Stroll through the village, stopping at the shops that comprised the commercial district of the town–the apothecary, distillery, weavers, meeting house, carpenter and blacksmith and listen to the interpreters talk about what life was like back then.

Walk through the stone arch and into the pioneer garden, lush with flowers. Leaving Pioneer village, trace the settlers’ lives in a stroll up to Hammer Cemetery where many of the village founders are buried.