Gardiner’s Island Mill in Easthampton was erected on May 23, 1795. It was built by Nathaniel Dominy for Abraham Gardiner for the cost of $773.36. The mill continued to operate until 1900.
The mill stands on a small knoll about three feet above the level of the ground, making it possible to catch some of the wind. This mill is of the hand-operated, top-turning variety, and covered with shingles. It has simple wood batten doors, and shutters on the three stories. A weather vane of sheet metal stands on the roof above the dormer window which has wood shutters hung in a frame, opposite the dormer through which the wind shaft passes.
Grain is taken in on the first floor, and hoisted by hand-windlass through a trap-door in the floor to the second story, where it is fed into hoppers, one for wheat, and the other for corn. This is a "two-stone mill," having the usual two grindstones for each hopper.
It is one of the surviving 18th and 19th Century windmills and the least altered. It was rebuilt in 1815 and the work of that time is some of the most advanced technology found in a Long Island windmill.
Sources:
“Gardiner’s Island Windmill.” Historic American Engineering Record. April, 1984
Jaray, Cornell. The Mills of Long Island. Ira J. Friedman, Inc., 1962
“Photographs: Written Historical and Descriptive Data, District No. 4.” Historic American Buildings Survey. June, 1934
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