Beebe Windmill

Beebe Windmill
Beebe windmill
Map
Origin
Mill nameBeebe mill
Mill locationBridgehampton, New York
Coordinates40°56′03″N 72°18′02″W / 40.9343°N 72.3006°W / 40.9343; -72.3006
Year built1820
Information
PurposeCorn mill
TypeSmock mill
StoreysFour-story smock
Base storeysA few courses of brick
Smock sidesEight-sided smock
No. of sailsFour sails
Type of sailsCommon sails
WindshaftWood
WindingFantail
Fantail bladesEight blades
Auxiliary powerSteam engine
No. of pairs of millstonesTwo pairs
Other informationNamed after Lester Beebe, for whom it was built.
Beebe Windmill
ArchitectTabor, Pardon T.
MPSLong Island Wind and Tide Mills TR
NRHP reference No.78001918[1]
Added to NRHPDecember 27, 1978

Beebe Windmill is a historic mill located at the southeast corner of Ocean Road and Hildreth Avenue in Bridgehampton, New York.[2]

History

[edit]

Beebe windmill was built in 1820 at Sag Harbor for Lester Beebe. Built on the wharf, it was moved to Sherrills Hill (Oakland Cemetery) where it also served as notifier to the town of arriving whaleship.[3] After his death, it was bought by Rose Gelston who had it moved to Bridgehampton where it worked for more than 50 years. In 1882, it was bought by James Sanford and moved to a site south of the railroad. Later, a steam engine was installed to provide power when the wind was not blowing. In 1888, the mill was repaired by millwright Nathaniel Dominy VII of Long Island. It was moved to a site north of the railroad in 1889. It was operated here until 1915 by the Bridgehampton Milling Company. In that year, it was bought by John E. Berwind and moved to his summer estate, Minden.[4][5]

The machinery of Beebe windmill, in HAER drawing

It is described in a 1977 Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) description as "one of the first Long Island windmills to have a fly, regulators, and cast iron gears" and is the only one with its original versions of those. It is also the only Long Island windmill to have a "decorative" design. With these features it is "the only surviving Long Island windmill which compares to English windmills of the same period."[6] The windmill was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.[1]

Description

[edit]

Beebe windmill is a four-story smock mill with an ogee cap winded by a fantail. Four Common sails are carried on a wooden windshaft, as is the wooden clasp arm brake wheel. This drives a cast iron wallower carried at the top of the upright shaft. At its lower end the cast iron great spur wheel drives two pairs of overdrift millstones.

See also

[edit]

List of windmills in New York

Samuel Schellinger

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. ^ "Division for Historic Preservation, New York State Department of Parks and Recreation, Building/Structure Inventory: Beebe Windmill". September 1978. Retrieved 2009-06-06. and Accompanying one photo from 1977
  3. ^ "Colonists from New England Left Their Mark on Towns Toward Eastern End". The New York Times.
  4. ^ Pulling, Anne Frances, and Leeds, Gerald A (1999). Windmills and Water Mills of Long Island. Charleston, SC: Arcadia. pp. 54–56. ISBN 0-7385-0288-X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Raymond W. Smith (September 1978). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Beebe Windmill". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Retrieved 2010-02-20. See also: "Accompanying photo".
  6. ^ Hefner, Robert J.; Paxton, Gregory B. (August 1977). "Beebe Windmill" (PDF). Historic American Engineering Record. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 23, 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
Beebe smock mill in Bridgehampton
[edit]

Media related to Beebe Windmill (Bridgehampton, New York) at Wikimedia Commons