In Pursuit Of Maine: February 27, 2015 - The Old Windmill

Friday, February 27, 2015

February 27, 2015 - The Old Windmill

I drive by it too often to not wonder about it now and then. This rickety old windmill sits out in a field, not doing much of anything these days. There’s a house in the background, but I don’t believe the windmill is on its property. There is an old farm to the left of the windmill, not shown in the photo, and I think at one point this old windmill played a part on that farm, although it appears to have retired quite some time ago. A road now runs between the farm and the windmill.

I don’t know for sure, but I think it’s an old Aermotor windmill. They were known as “the mathematical windmill,” based on sound engineering principles. The Aermotor Company was founded in the 1800’s and is still around today, but I think this particular windmill was made back in the earlier years. When the steel wheels first came out, they seemed almost a joke, but they were dramatically more effective than the wood wheels that were used in the 1800’s and they rapidly replaced them. These windmills were, and still are, used to power water pumps.

But there are no animals on that farm anymore, and no more crops are grown either, other than a small personal garden. The windmill sits in a field as a marker of former times and days gone by. It’s like an old monument now, an old statue. I use it as a marker these days to identify where I am on my trip. “Oh, there’s the old windmill,” I say to myself, “I’m halfway there.”

The old Aermotor windmill.

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