Higgins Farm Windmill

Higgins Farm Windmill. c.1795. , The Old Higgins Farm Windmill was originally located in E. Brewster, about 5 miles from its present site. It is authenticated in a map dated 1795, which shows the mill standing close to what is now the corner of Rte. 6A and Ellis Landing Rd. Around 1890, it was moved across the road to the Roland Nickerson estate (now Ocean Edge Resort) to serve as a clubhouse for the Nickersons' private golf course. , In 1973, Mrs. Samuel Nickerson gave the mill to The Brewster Historical Society in memory of her husband, stipulating it should be moved, restored, and open to the public. Moving mills is an old tradition; often, when they changed ownership, they changed location as well. In December 1974, Brewster's mill was hoisted onto a flatbed trailer and moved down Rte. 6A to its present site on the former Drummer Boy Museum land, given by Mr. and Mrs. Lewis McGowan. The rolling field and sweeping ocean breezes make this an ideal location for Brewster's windmill. , Restoration was largely completed by July 1976 in time for the nation's Bicentennial. The restoration is as authentic as knowledge, experience, and skilled artisans have been able to make it. Even the millstones are originals, which is unusual. Old stones have a way of wandering far from idle mills to become doorsteps for Cape Cod cottages. , The Mill stands 30 feet tall, with a 20-foot diameter base. The boat-shaped cap is constructed with curved members like those in the hull of a ship, the better to cut through the wind, some say. By hauling the long tail pole around, via horse or ox, the miller could rotate the cap to turn the attached canvas-covered arms directly into the wind, no matter from what direction it blew. America's Early Colonists considered three things requisite to start a settlement , a minister, a blacksmith, and a miller., How Brewster's Windmill Works , As the Wind Turns the Arms, they turn the horizontal windshaft into which the arms are slotted. Mounted also on this shaft, the great brake wheel is set in motion; its cogs engage a smaller gear called a wallower, which in turn, rotates a vertical shaft or quant, which sets the runner stone spinning. Thus does the simple but ingenious system of gears turn horizontal wind power into vertical energy, driving the mill and grinding grain into meal or flour. , The Top Level of the mill allows the miller access to the wooden machinery under the cap. Because the entire cap must be turned to set the arms and sails into the wind, the miller would climb up here to grease the wooden curb upon which the cap rotates (wood on wood without the benefit of any bearings). Other moving parts would also be greased to make them move smoothly and minimize wear. The miller probably used lard or mutton tallow, there being no petroleum products then. You can still see the grease stains on the wood. , On the Second Floor are the millstones, 5 feet in diameter. The bottom, or bedstone, is fixed and does not turn. The upper runner-stone may travel at 90 to 100 rpms to grind the corn. Suspended above the runner stone, a hopper feeds the grain into a hole or eye in the center of the stone. When operating well, stones can grind a bushel of corn in 10 to 12 minutes. The turning stone sweeps the meal outward, where it is caught in the wooden stone casing, called a vat. From here, it automatically feeds down to the first-floor meal bin. , On the First Floor, a long wooden chute carries the fresh-ground meal, warm from the stones above, into a meal bin. Here it is cooled and put into cloth sacks. Here also is the stout oaken bridge tree and the iron spindle by which the miller adjusted the runner stone, weighing a ton or more, to control how fine the grain is ground. , Maintained and operated by the Brewster Historical Society