Berks Parks: Stop #12-Reber's Mill & Bridge
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Union Canal Bicycle & Walking Trail
Stop 12: Reber's Mill and Bridge

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{Union Canal Trail}

Stop 12:  Reber's Mill & BridgeStop 11:  Lock #47-EStop 10:  Van Reed PropertyStop 9:  Lock #48-EStop 8:  Berks County Heritage Center & Wertz's Covered BridgeStop 7:  Site of J. B. Winter's Grist MillStop 6:  Lock #49-EStop 5:  Gring's Mill & HomesteadStop 4:  Fisher Homesteads & Waste CulvertStop 3:  Mule Bridge & Lock #51-EStop 2:  Kissinger Homestead & Blacksmith ShopStop 1:  Stonecliffe

At this stop, where the Plum Creek flows into the "Tully," Union Canal boats crossed the "Plum" by means of a stone and wooden aqueduct. This canal aqueduct can best be described as a wooden bridge filled with water which transported canal barges over the creek. A few of the original red sandstone blocks which supported the wooden aqueduct can still be observed north of this marker.

In 1951, the steel highway bridge which spans the creek today replaced Reber's Covered Bridge (1837), which was 129 feet in length. This bridge provided access to Reber's Grist Mill, which was first named Hiester's Mill after having been built by Gabriel and Jonathan Hiester in 1760. The Hiesters and Rebers intermarried and around the time of the Civil War, Joseph Reber enlarged the mill to its full capacity. Little of the mill remains.

The trail crosses Plum Creek on Rush's Iron Truss Bridge (1905), which was moved here from the Oley Valley, and concludes at the junction of Reber's Bridge. Crossing Reber's Bridge Road, a 2-mile connector trail to the Blue Marsh Lake trail system follows a portion of the Union Canal on US Army Corp of Engineers property.

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