1787 windmill opens for season

By ohtadmin | on June 01, 2023

Volunteer docent Rosemary Enright, right, explains the history of the Jamestown Windmill to Colleen Elmer, left, and Peg Elmer during their visit Monday. The landmark will remain open for self-guided tours through Columbus Day. PHOTO BY ANDREA VON HOHENLEITEN

A historic landmark with roots preceding the nation's independence has opened for the season.

The Jamestown Windmill started welcoming guests May 26 to coincide with Memorial Day weekend. The site, which is maintained by the Jamestown Historical Society, is free and open to the public for self-guided tours from 1-4 p.m. Fridays to Sundays through Columbus Day.

"People can come in by themselves," said Rosemary Enright, treasurer of the historical society. "There's complete signage."

The windmill, built in 1787, was spearheaded by a group of Jamestown freemen who sent a request to the Rhode Island General Assembly for a half-acre parcel of land. According to a booklet, "The Jamestown Windmill," the land had been part of a farm owned by Joseph Wanton Jr., a British loyalist who fled Rhode Island in 1779. The state confiscated his land, and the legislature voted to give the land to Jamestown on the condition "they erect and keep in repair a good windmill for grinding grain."

From its construction until 1896, the windmill was used as a grist mill to grind corn into food for animals and their owners. The windmill, which was closed due to newer rolling mills, was subsequently neglected until it was purchased by the Jamestown Windmill Association in 1904. The windmill was then donated to the Jamestown Historical Society in 1912.

It is the only Colonial windmill in Rhode Island that exists in its original location. There are two windmills in Middletown, but both were relocated.

"Our mill is still in the place where it was built," Enright said. "If we could cut down all the trees behind it, we probably could even use it."

The windmill has three floors. The first is the milling floor with two grindstones, which originally were on the second floor before they were replaced in the 19th century. After that replacement, the second floor was used as the bin floor for storage. The third floor is the dust floor where the gears and shafts that power the sails can be found. The sails, in turn, power the grindstones.

"When the sails go around with the wind, they are attached to a wind shift, which is on the inside of the bonnet," Enright said. "There is a big wheel called a brake wheel that has got cogs on it, and the cogs interface with another set of the cogs on top of the drive shaft. This means that every time the sails go around once, the drive shaft goes around five times."

Enright said the second half of the "Jamestown Windmill" booklet is divided among the signs on the windmill grounds, which detail the history and operation of the structure.

"You can get a complete picture, if you read all the signage, as to what's going on," Enright said.

Renovations have been constant since the historical society took over its care more than a century ago. The most recent renovation in 2020-21 was when the windshaft was replaced and the mill was without its sails; the cost was $27,000.

"That was about a two-year project," Enright said. "Our millwright purchased the piece of wood he wanted to use and then had it aging in our yard there for a year, formed it and made it so it was round and it would work with everything."

Enright said visitors to the landmark will learn how it was used to feed Jamestown for the entire 19th century. She said the windmill was important to farmers because flour could not easily be brought across Narragansett Bay.

"I hope they take away an understanding of the way in which the corn that was grown on the land was turned into flour for the people to eat," she said. "This was a very important part of living as a farmer. Most of the farming done on Jamestown was simply subsistence farming. They were doing it for themselves."

The historical society will sponsor Windmill Day from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 22. The festivities will include tours of the windmill and the Conanicut Friends meetinghouse, refreshments, live music, games and activities. The cloths will be raised on the sails, which will turn for the only time this year. The sails will run intermittently during the three-hour event, but they will not be used to grind corn.

Although Windmill Day normally is a biennial event, Enright said the success of the 2022 edition made the society opt for a ’23 encore. It is typically alternated with Battery Day.