Heishmans Mill is a historic water power mill along the Conodoguinet Creek in Cumberland County listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Operated by Friends of Historic Heishmans Mill (FHHM), this Pennsylvania 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation is committed to increasing public access to the Conodoguinet Creek Water Trail at the mill and insuring the ongoing preservation of the mill and dam through educational programs. On Saturday, June 28, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., the FHHM is hosting a Spirit of Schimmel history day. The free event will take place at the mill, located at 1206 Creek Road, Carlisle, Pa. Billed as the Spirit of Schimmel Wood Carving Expo the mission of the event is to educate the public on the legacy of Wilhelm Schimmel, one of the nations most renowned folk artists. Schimmel (1817-1890) was a German speaking immigrant who spent over 20 years in Cumberland County roughly between 1869 and 1890. In the 1870s, the mill was owned and operated by John Greider who also had a sawmill, a very likely source of scrap material for carvings. Schimmel is known to have spent time in the summer kitchen across the road from the mill and in the covered bridge a short distance downstream from the mill. Schimmel created mostly animals, such as roosters and eagles. Through 19th-century published newspaper accounts and arrest reports, it is known he was an itinerant tramp who was routinely involved in altercations. Far from a glamorous figure, it is not the lifestyle or man himself under a microscope, but his lasting wooden carved and painted creatures left behind. With his life upended by alcohol abuse, he died in the county almshouse in 1890. Never signed, hundreds of folk carvings attributed to Schimmel have survived. Countless more have been destroyed or lost through generations. Today, every major American art museum has an example of an attributed Schimmel carving, including the Cumberland County Historical Society. A great grandson of the last operating miller, Randy Heishman purchased the mill in 2019 from Preservation Pennsylvania. A Schimmel enthusiast, Heishman hopes the event will become an annual tradition. Craftspeople who will be set up displaying and selling their work will include Paul Hoch of Carlisle, Jim and Joan Hiser of Carlisle Springs, Andy Van Brookhoven of Lititz, and Dan Strawser Jr. of Tennessee, among others. A food truck will be on-site. A display of numerous contemporary Schimmel-influenced carving will be available for purchase. These will include folk carving by Rodney Boyer, Carl Snavely, Jonathan Bastian, Walter and June Gottshall, Phil Gottshall, Dierwechter, and others. To learn more, email Randy Heishman at heish1@aol.com.