Take a Look Inside DeZwaan Windmill in Holland, Michigan
Windmill Island Gardens is one of Holland’s true gems. A visit to this 36-acre park adjacent to Holland’s downtown area is like stepping two centuries back in time, as you’ll find authentic Dutch architecture framing a view of the area’s crown jewel: DeZwaan Windmill. Take a tour with guest blogger, Ann Van Heest from Discover Holland, inside of DeZwaan Windmill on Windmill Island!
DeZwaan (The Swan) Windmill was brought to Holland, Michigan from the Netherlands in 1964. It opened to the public in 1965 and enjoys the unique status of being the United States’ only authentic, working Dutch windmill, as well as the last windmill to leave the Netherlands.
The Ground Floor
On the ground floor of the mill are thick brick walls. These bricks were laid in the traditional Dutch style, sloping downward to drain water from the building. The two sets of double doors on the ground floor allowed farmers to drive their horse and wagon full of bagged wheat right into the mill. The flour is ground on the fifth story of the mill, so farmers would have to use the “elevator” to convey the bags up to the grinding floor. The elevator is a wind-powered pulley that hoists bags of wheat through an open elevator shaft. The shaft is also where the miller’s wooden-shoe telephone is found. Traditionally, millers spent most of their days in the upper floors of the mill and visiting farmers would send their messages to the miller via a wooden shoe attached to a rope! They could slip a note or payment into the shoe and the miller would pull up the rope when he had a chance.
Packing and Storage
The packaging and storage floors are where we might see the miller and her assistants bagging DeZwaan-ground flour that is sold at the gift shop or distributed to local restaurants for use in their baked goods and pizza crusts. Take a look at some of the original pieces and parts of the mill, mounted on the wall for us to touch and examine. Your guide will share the story of some of these pieces and how they were made, and she will also tell you how the blades of the mill were used to convey information for communities and also used as signals during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.
Fourth Floor
On the fourth floor of the mill, we’ll look around and see that there are no longer surrounded by brick, but by the mill’s original wood timbers. The Dutch imported Norwegian fir beams to construct the mill in 1761, and you can see how they were hand-planed. Look for the Roman numerals carved in the sides of the beams, which helped the millwrights who originally assembled the mill know how the beams fit together. They also guided the modern millwrights who re-assembled the mill in Holland! This floor is known as the “milling floor,” and is where the milling process is fine-tuned - the miller can regulate the grinding process by raising or lowering the top millstone.
The Gallery Deck
Out on the gallery deck, we can see how truly immense the blades are! This is my favorite part, as we can get a great view of the tulip fields planted adjacent to the mill, but also get up close and personal with the blades, which are 80 feet long and six feet wide. From this gallery deck, the miller can rotate the cap of the mill so the blades are facing into the wind, and she can also engage the brake and stop the blades from turning.
Fifth Floor
We will climb up to the fifth floor of the mill, which is noticeably tight quarters as the mill narrows towards the top and the two massive sets of grindstones take up most of the floor space. There are three gears on this floor, which the miller must engage in order to operate the elevator pulley we first learned about on the ground floor, or to begin the grinding process. When the miller releases the brakes and allows the blades to turn, the massive gear in the middle of this room begins to turn. Despite the many tons of gears now turning, the sound is just a whisper, as the wooden gears are lubricated with beeswax and turn very quietly. When the grinding gears are engaged, the noise is still much quieter than you’d expect!
During the Tulip Time festival, visitors will be able to see the windmill alongside the more than 100,000 tulips blooming at Windmill Island Gardens. They can also take guided tours of the mill, the authentic Dutch street organ and a short film screened every thirty minutes in the post house building. Take time to tour the antique tropical greenhouse, the “Little Netherlands” historic display, and visit the gift shop which also sells homemade fudge.
About the Author: Ann Van Heest is the information coordinator at the Holland Visitors Bureau. Her first job was selling fudge at Windmill Island Gardens.