Our windmill.

Yes, I know. It's a cliché. But the fact is that windmills are part of our landscape. And the village where I live also has one. [[In fact there are three, among which is the smallest working old fashioned windmill in the world.) Today was a open day. An opportunity to visit the windmill and climb it to the second [[of three) floors. I took some pictures.

http://i56.tinypic.com/2gsoa4w.jpg
Here it is, in full sail.

This here is the fourth windmill in this spot. The first windmill only stood for about three years before it was torn down again. In was build in 1847. It's successor was build in 1853 on the spot of the present windmill. This windmill reamined working until 1922 when the upper structure was torn down. Only the masonry footing remained.

http://www.molendehoopstiens.nl/pagi...ouw%201977.jpg
This is how this windmill looked until 1978. The new windmill upper structure is in the foreground.

A tragic moment was new years eve 1992 when a stray firework struck the reed and burned the whole upper structure down.
http://www.molendehoopstiens.nl/pagi...201992%201.bmp
The fire of 1992.

http://www.molendehoopstiens.nl/pagi...nd01-01-92.jpg
The aftermath...

Luckily the insurance company reacted very swiftly. The man who lit the firework immediately came forward and within a year the windmill was already fixed.

http://www.molendehoopstiens.nl/pagi...1992%20013.jpg
Somewhere in the second half of 1992 the new upper structure went up.

I've got some more pictures if you're interested.

Much prettier than those giant Star Wars-like wind turbines spread throughout the country!

There's about 1170 classic windmills left in the Netherlands.

Some examples were exported stone by stone to the United States. Best known examples are the Vermeer Windmill in Pella, Iowa and De Zwaan [[The Swan) in Holland, Michigan

The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn is said to have the oldest windmill in the united states.