The previous owners had converted the mill, built in 1862, into a Halloween attraction.

When Armstrong and Rohrbach tore down the black walls and fake snakes that coated the inside of the structure, they were pleasantly surprised to find the mill's original machinery - five rollers, four dressers and a sifter larger than a midsize car - still intact.

"It was like uncovering a treasure ship," Armstrong said. "It's over 90 percent complete."

The two said they plan to finish restoring the mill and to open it as a living museum, one capable of producing both flour and hydroelectric energy.

"We're going to be God's green energy," Armstrong said. "It's interesting to see us returning to what we had before fossil fuels. It's history repeating itself."

"We're here for a reason," Rohrbach said. "We've been brought to it to finish it and have it taken to the public."

The Lancaster County mill, also known as the Pequea Valley Roller Mill, was once the hub of the community.

Michael Gress, who owned the mill from 1967 to 1995, said it is rumored that George Washington hid his supplies and soldiers in the hollow that holds the mill during the Revolutionary War.

Rohrbach said he could imagine men gathered around the mill during the Civil War, discussing how their sons were about to head off to war.

Today, families visit the mill on weekends to go tubing or camping.

Rohrbach said it's his responsibility to make sure the mill is still intact in 200 years.

He said he and Armstrong will formally open the museum for tours, some possibly guided by Gress, as soon as restoration is complete.

They hope to offer them for free, he said. But in order to do so, they must raise $750,000.

If they can come up with $375,000, he said, the Society for the Preservation of Old Mills will supply the remainder.

Rohrbach said the mill will accept donations, and is working to obtain status as a nonprofit organization.

He also said that they are looking for someone to run a conservancy and for a special-events coordinator to plan events.

Gress and his wife, Dee, couldn't be happier with plans to restore the mill as the family-based location it was when they owned it.

When the Gresses owned the mill, it served as the backdrop for a medieval wedding and multiple support groups.

"It was a place where I heard laughter and enjoyment of families and people that I'd never heard any other place," Michael Gress said. "I'd do it all over again."

Rohrbach, the current co-owner, credited Michael Gress with restoring the mill to the condition it was in when he and Armstrong bought it.

When Gress accidentally purchased the mill at an auction in 1967 - Gress tends to gesture when he speaks and the auctioneer took that as a bid - it was in ruins. The windows had been left open for years. Flour was strewn throughout the building, and the roof leaked.

Rohrbach said he and Armstrong are picking up where Gress left off.

"This is a national treasure," Rohrbach said. "Everybody needs to see it."