World Art Utopia

Windmills Worth the Trip (9 Photos)

Vidar's avatarBy Vidar
Uneven split image: Union Mill rises above Cranbrook rooftops beside the larger De Adriaan windmill and boats on the river in Haarlem

Old Windmills Powered by Wind and Open to Visitors

Most old windmills stopped turning long ago. These nine have working sails, two of them moved across the Atlantic from Europe, and a few will sell you a bag of flour ground by the wind.

A tall thatched drainage windmill at Kinderdijk stands at the edge of blue water under a clear sky, with two more windmills in the distance

🌊 The Kinderdijk Windmills — South Holland, Netherlands 🇳🇱

Thatched drainage mills from 1738 and 1740 line the canals at Kinderdijk, 19 of them in all. Electric pumping stations took over the drainage long ago, but the mills are kept in working order, and as many as the wind allows turn on Windmill Day, the first Saturday of each month.

💡 Home Fact: Miller families still live in many of the mills. As miller Cornelis van den Berg puts it: “It’s a dream come true to live and work here.”

📷 Photo: BriYYZ / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Looking up at Heage Windmill in Derbyshire, its six metal-framed sails spread out against a blue sky above the stone tower

⚙️ Heage Windmill — Heage, Derbyshire, England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Six sails instead of the usual four, on a stone tower in Heage. It was first built in 1797 and restored in 2002, and on open days you can buy flour milled on site.

💡 Sail Fact: Heage calls itself the only working six-sailed stone tower windmill in England.

📷 Photo: Colin Cheesman / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Red tulips in the foreground and the Dutch windmill De Zwaan behind them under a blue sky at Windmill Island Gardens in Holland, Michigan

🌷 De Zwaan — Holland, Michigan, USA 🇺🇸

Tulips in front, a genuine Dutch windmill behind, at Windmill Island Gardens. The mill is traditionally dated to 1761 and was shipped from the Netherlands in 1964; WOOD TV calls it the only working authentic Dutch windmill in the United States.

💡 Crate Fact: It crossed the Atlantic in about 7,000 pieces. A blade with bullet holes from World War II is on display.

📷 Photo: Astridmigu7 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The wooden paint windmill De Kat at Zaanse Schans, with red sail cloth on its sails, standing on a gallery above a red-roofed shed by the water

🎨 De Kat — Zaanse Schans, Zaandam, Netherlands 🇳🇱

Red sail cloth over a dark wooden mill on the river at Zaanse Schans. There has been a mill here since 1646. Today it makes paint, and in the mill’s own words, countless artists know how to find the way to De Kat.

💡 Paint Fact: De Kat is described as the only remaining working windmill in the world that produces paint.

📷 Photo: CrazyPhunk / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The white smock windmill Union Mill towers over red-tiled rooftops seen from Stone Street in Cranbrook, Kent

🏘️ Union Mill — By James Humphrey in Cranbrook, England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

A white smock mill towering over the tiled roofs of Cranbrook, built in 1814 and the tallest smock mill in the United Kingdom. Its sails drive a pair of millstones on Saturday open days from April to September.

💡 Name Fact: The mill was built for Mary Dobell, who went bankrupt in 1819. A union of her creditors took it over, and the name stuck.

📷 Photo and cover crop: Spudgun67 / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

The Danish Windmill in Elk Horn, Iowa: a shingled octagonal mill with red and white sails and a fantail above a white base, under a blue sky

🚢 The Danish Windmill — Elk Horn, Iowa, USA 🇺🇸

A shingled mill with red sails in Elk Horn. It was built in Denmark in 1848, moved here in 1976, and remains fully functional, with sails 66 feet across.

💡 Flour Fact: The mill is capable of grinding over 2 tons of flour per day.

📷 Photo: Smallbones / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Jill, a white wooden post mill on the South Downs at Clayton, with white sails against a deep blue sky and bright clouds

🐴 Jill Windmill — Clayton, West Sussex, England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

A white post mill on the South Downs above Clayton, next to her black partner, Jack. Volunteers restored her to working order, and she grinds whole-grain flour from Sussex wheat now and then.

💡 Moving Fact: Jill was built in Brighton in 1821. In 1852 she was moved to Clayton by a team of horses and oxen.

📷 Photo: Ian Cunliffe / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The black windmill De Adriaan rises above a brick base on the bank of the Spaarne river in Haarlem, with an old boat moored in front and townhouses beside it

🔥 De Adriaan — Haarlem, Netherlands 🇳🇱

A black mill on a brick base beside the Spaarne in Haarlem. It first went up in 1778, and today it is a demonstration mill and museum that can grind grain.

💡 Fire Fact: The mill burned down on April 23, 1932. The rebuilt Adriaan opened on April 23, 2002, 70 years to the day after the fire.

📷 Photo and cover crop: Dfarrell07 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Wilton Windmill in Wiltshire, a red-brick tower mill with white sails, a fantail and a wooden gallery, under a cloudy sky

🌾 Wilton Windmill — Wilton, Wiltshire, England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

A red-brick tower mill with white sails on the chalk downs near Marlborough. Built in 1821, it is the only working windmill in Wessex. Bags of its stone-ground flour are on sale during opening times.

💡 Canal Fact: The mill went up because the new Kennet and Avon Canal left the local watermills short of water.

📷 Photo: Niggly / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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