John Lyon Gardiner Mill Cottage facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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John Lyon Gardiner Mill Cottage
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U.S. Historic district
Contributing property |
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Replica saltbox home and gardiner mill as seen in September 2018
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 Location in New York
Location in the United States
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| Location | 36 James Lane, East Hampton, New York |
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| Architect | John Lyon Gardiner |
| Part of | East Hampton Village District (ID74001309) |
| Designated CP | May 2, 1974 |
Imagine stepping back in time! The John Lyon Gardiner Mill Cottage, located at 36 James Lane in East Hampton, New York, is now a cool museum. It shows off beautiful landscape paintings from the 1800s and early 1900s. This cottage is part of a special historic area called the East Hampton Village District. It stands proudly next to a historic windmill and a marker for Rev. Thomas James, helping to tell the story of the past.
History of the Mill Cottage
How the Village Saved the Cottage
In 2014, the people of East Hampton village asked their local government to buy the Gardiner Mill cottage and its land. This land also included the old Gardiner windmill, built in 1804. They used special money set aside for community projects to buy it.
Building a New Museum
Later in 2014, the village decided to build a new version of the old cottage. This new building would look like a traditional "saltbox" style home from colonial times. The village took on the job of turning it into a museum.
Art for the Museum
Terry Wallace, who owns the East Hampton Wallace Gallery, helped out a lot. He agreed to give some of his amazing collection of landscape paintings to the museum. These paintings show scenes of the Hamptons, with some dating back to 1865! Other paintings were bought with money from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, making sure the museum had a great collection.
The Cottage Itself
What the Cottage Looks Like
The mill cottage is a "saltbox" style house. This means it has a long, sloping roof at the back, like an old-fashioned salt box. It was built with strong timber frames, a common way to build houses long ago.
Bringing Back the Past
The cottage was carefully restored to look like it did around 1880. That's when Jonathan Thompson Gardiner last updated it. An artist named Percy Moran, whose uncle was the famous painter Thomas Moran, lived there in the early 1900s. After that, the cottage started to fall apart.
Making it Modern and Accessible
Instead of just fixing the old building, they decided to build a new one that looked exactly like the old one. This was a good way to keep the historic look while making sure it was safe and useful. Some parts that weren't original, like certain porches and dormers (windows sticking out of the roof), were removed. The front porch from the 1880s was rebuilt. They also added a new entrance and bathroom to follow rules that make buildings easy for everyone to use, including people with disabilities. A small parking lot was put behind the cottage so it wouldn't block the view from the street.
The Gardiner Mill
How the Mill Was Built
The Gardiner Mill was built in 1804 by a skilled craftsman named Nathaniel Dominy V. He was a "millwright," someone who designs and builds mills. This mill is a "smock windmill," which means it has a tower that gets narrower at the top, like a person wearing a smock. It worked as a "grist mill," grinding grain into flour for local farmers.
Special Details of the Mill
The wood for the mill came from trees on Gardiner's Island. It was finished on September 28, 1804, and cost a lot of money back then – more than 528 pounds! That would be about $28,208 in 2018. The mill kept working until 1900 and still has most of its original parts. It's one of the best examples of colonial-style mill building on Long Island.
Nathaniel Dominy's Craftsmanship
Nathaniel Dominy V was known for his amazing work. He paid special attention to every detail of the Gardiner Mill's wooden frame, making the timbers super smooth with a hand plane. He put in this extra effort because it was a new kind of mill. It was designed to run two sets of millstones instead of just one! Also, he built it for an important customer, John Lyon Gardiner. The village completely fixed up the windmill in 1996, making it a state-of-the-art restoration.
See also
