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 millwrightNathaniel 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
For an explanation of the various items of machinery, see Mill machinery.
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.
↑ Pulling, Anne Frances, and Leeds, Gerald A (1999). Windmills and Water Mills of Long Island. Charleston, SC: Arcadia. pp.54–56. ISBN0-7385-0288-X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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