Peirce Mill’s version of a partridge in a pear tree: A chicken in the holly

The folks who bring the 19th century Peirce Mill to life for us made an unexpected discovery. We can’t improve on their telling, so here it is:

Last Sunday at Peirce Mill, the staff were alerted by an excited visitor that “there is a wild chicken in the holly bush across the road in the picnic area.”

Rock Creek Park Ranger Jeanne Minor immediately followed up on the report – and volunteer docent Adam Sieminski got a picture of the wayward chicken.

A quick call to the DC Animal Control hotline (24-hour line at 202-576-6664 if you ever need it for animal-related emergencies) elicited “I’ve been doin’ this a long time but never got an alert for a chicken in a holly tree” and a sympathetic offer to dispatch an officer with a net.

But Ranger Jeanne used some cornmeal from a recent grinding demonstration at the mill to persuaded the apparently abandoned chicken to calm down enough to be gently placed in a cage that had also been left at the picnic grounds.

Ranger Jeanne reports that “Miss Holly Berry” was comfortably relocated to “Auntie Ginger’s farm in upper Maryland where she is in good company with lots of other chickens… and goats, horses, dogs, and cats!” A happy ending for Little Orphan Holly.

Visit Peirce Mill

Peirce Mill (2401 Tilden Street NW, near the intersection Of Tilden and Beach Drive) will be open Saturday, December 24 and again on Saturday, December 31 -both days from 10am to 4pm. The mill will be closed Christmas and New Year’s Days. During the winter months, starting in January, the mill will be open weekends from noon to 4 p.m. Milling demonstrations with the working water wheel and turning grindstones will begin again in April. Demonstration days are held each month on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays – in April 2017 that will be the 8th and 22nd.