Hayground windmill was built in 1809 and processed the largest amount of wheat, corn, and oats in the region, operating until it was decommissioned in 1919. In its final year, the Hayground Windmill was the last functional windmill on all of Long Island. After temporarily functioning as a tearoom, this windmill became the home and studio of artist, Agnes Pelton. Hayground Windmill was then moved by ox-cart to its present location as part of the Dowling estate in 1950 and declared a National Historic Building in 1978.
We found this windmill with scaffolding, so it wasn't easy to photograph it, but ... what was really interesting to me is that when we drove right up to the gated estate where this windmill sits, the gate automatically opened. I felt kind of strange driving right onto private property, but actually, we had to do so in order to turn our car around. We stopped long enough to photograph the scaffolded windmill and then drove off. We didn't want to overstay our welcome... if, in fact, we were even welcome. But the gates opened up for us, sooooooooooo... read more