George Brinton built the immense waterpowered grain mill at the end of the Civil War, after the village had been connected to the larger regional economy by the Baltimore Central Railroad. Slated for demolition in the 1960s, the mill was acquired by the Brandywine Conservancy and adapted as a museum of the region's culture by James R. Grieves of Baltimore. By concentrating circulation and services to the rear in a new wing that provides views of the creek, the multiple levels of the mill are left to house the remarkable regional collection centered on the works of Howard Pyle, N. C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth, and Jamie Wyeth.