An odd mill,
finally in the light.
Every landmark has a story. Few begin with a working mill, a cast-iron turbine, and a decision to preserve a piece of history that easily could have disappeared.
LONG BEFORE
THE PAVILION.
The Iron Turbine was the first commercially successful all-metal windmill in America - and after more than a century hidden away, it now anchors The Pavilion at Iron Turbine.
Instead of the conventional wooden blades you might expect on an American windmill, this one uses buckets designed to scoop the wind more efficiently. Most folks today just call them strange-looking. Fair enough.
It was likely purchased by G.W.L. Meyer, Charles Meyer's great-grandfather, around the mid-1880s. It was probably dismantled in the 1920s and tucked into the loft of an 1800s barn, where it waited until Charles Meyer and Steve Mueller went looking on December 10, 2018.
This is an original, intact example of the first mass-produced, all-metal windmill in America. It is significant. It is also above your head while you are eating and listening to music, which feels like the right way to keep history alive.
The best view
is from below.
The turbine is installed at The Pavilion at Iron Turbine. Come for a glass, stay long enough to look up.