$500K Secured To Rehabilitate Iconic Windmill Damaged In Storm

SOUTHAMPTON, NY — Help is on the way for an iconic Hamptons windmill damaged in a storm more than two years ago.

New York State Assemblyman Fred Thiele nominated Stony Brook University for a $500,000 capital grant that he said will be used for the restoration and rehabilitation of the windmill at the Southampton campus.

The funding, Thiele said, has been secured from the state and municipal facilities program included as part of the 2021 state budget.

Repairs on the windmill were delayed by the state's financial constraints during the pandemic, Thiele said.

The windmill has a rich history: The structure has been standing at its Shinnecock Hills site since 1888, when it was saved from destruction by Janet Hoyt, the wife of William Hoyt, the builder of the Shinnecock Inn, Thiele said. Janet Hoyt, together with Samuel Parrish, founded the Summer School of Art.

The windmill is the only one of three in Southampton Village that survived; it has been in its current location for 132 years.

In the summer of 1957, playwright Tennessee Williams resided there when he wrote the play "The Day on Which a Man Dies" about the death of his friend Jackson Pollack, Thiele said.

The Library Association of America officially designated the windmill, at its current location, as a literary landmark in 2013.

In 1963, when Long Island University established Southampton College, the windmill became the symbol of the new campus; the college newspaper was even named "The Windmill".

In 2006, Stony Brook University acquired the campus and in 2009, led the effort to rehabilitate the windmill. The annual windmill lighting during the holiday season is a beloved annual tradition.

"From the establishment of Southampton College by Long Island University in 1963, the iconic windmill has been the heart of the campus. That is still the case under the stewardship of Stony Brook University. The future of the Southampton campus is bright as a center of graduate education with marine sciences, fine arts, and health sciences at the core of its mission. I am pleased that funding is now available to repair the Windmill and take another step forward in securing the campus's future," Thiele said.