Friends of Historic Heishman’s Mill is very pleased to host a demonstration and expo of regional wood carvers in the Folk Art Tradition of Wilhelm Schimmel, an itinerant folk art wood carver who lived and worked in the area in the late 1800s. Schimmel was a personal friend of John Greider who owned the Mill from 1868 to 1896. The Cumberland County Historical Society has a number of Schimmel carvings on display. Friends of Historic Heishman’s Mill wish to thank the Cumberland County Historical Society for their help and encouragement to offer this free public expo and educational event at the mill. The top carves from around the country will be carving and have their wares for sale.
Water-Powered Mills of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Cumberland County Historical Society, Page 115 …. ” During Greider’s ownership, Wilhelm Schimmel (1817-1890), a German itinerant woodcarver, came to be housed at the Greider property. Schimmel used the mill as his “”home base”” and the site for his carving. He would leave and then return after wandering away to various known and at times unknown destinations. Presumably, some of the wood he used for his carvings would have been “”picked up”” at the Greider saw mill. Regarded as the modern equivalent of a vagrant, Schimmel is now famous. … notable examples can be viewed at the Cumberland County Historical Society, as well as in major American museum collections.”
