Battle of Yorktown

12. Windmill Point

Yorktown, VA

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The windmill was a landmark in Yorktown for nearly 150 years. It was erected on a rugged marl bluff just past the original western boundary of Yorktown around 1711. The bluff soon became known as Windmill Point. John and Elizabeth Lewis, the first owners of this property, allotted one acre of land to town trustee and local merchant William Buckner for the purpose of building a windmill on the site. Mills were an important aspect of the colonial economy. Corn needed to be ground into meal and wheat turned into flour before it could be shipped or used. Owners made a profit on their mills by grinding grain for others as well as for themselves, and they often charged a toll for the use of their services. In Buckner's case, he was obliged to grind 12 barrels of Indian corn a year for Lewis at no charge, as well as keep the mill in good working order. He eventually came into full possession of the lot and passed it down to his son when he died. Experts are not sure what type of windmill actually stood at Windmill point. James Wilson Peale portrayed it as a brick cylindrical tower in his painting, The Generals at Yorktown, around 1784, but earlier sketches show a smock mill. These windmills are usually octagonal or hexagonal in shape with a wide base and narrow top, and are often covered in weatherboarding. The mill was in ruins and most likely inoperative within 50 years, and it disappeared completely some time during the nineteenth century. Archaeologists do not have enough evidence to determine where the original windmill stood. A replica was built at the Watermen's Museum in Historic Yorktown, but the Colonial National Historic Park has determined that the terrain is too steep and too prone to erosion problems to reconstruct a windmill on the original site.