Traditionally said to have been built in 1746, the Old Mill is believed to be the oldest operating windmill in the United States. It is the only surviving mill of the five that once stood overlooking Nantucket town.<\/p>\n
The mill is a smock mill and has a fixed-body containing the machinery and a cap that turns to face the vanes and sails into the wind. The Old Mill saw many years of use and was sold for twenty dollars in 1828 to Jared Gardner in deplorable condition for use as “firewood.” Instead of dismantling it, Gardner, a carpenter, restored the mill to working condition capable of grinding corn. The mill was sold again in 1866 to John Francis Sylvia, a Portuguese miller of Azorean descent, who operated it for many years with his assistant Peter Hoy, until it fell into disuse in 1892. When the mill appeared on the auction block in 1897, the Nantucket Historical Association was able to secure the mill with a successful bid of $885.<\/p>\n
After some minor repairs over the years \u2014 and major overhauls in 1930, 1936, and 1983 \u2014 the mill is capable of grinding corn just as it has for more than two centuries. The Old Mill was desig\u00adnated an American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1992.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"