Windmills of Québec III: Moulin á Pointe de la Chevelure, Fort Saint-Frederic

This is the windmill we will never see because it no longer exists.  To imagine this windmill, you must first remember Lake Champlain and the lands surrounding it were part of the French Québec colony before the Seven Years War and not British. This windmill was designed by Gaspard Joseph Chaussegros de Léry and constructed at Pointe de la Chevelure, the site of the French colony at Fort Saint-Frederic, present day Crown Point, New York.

(click on image to enlarge)

Theodore G. Corbett  in A Clash of Cultures on the Warpath of Nations writes : "The king's engineer also designed an elaborate stone windmill to the south of St. Frederic along the lakeshore.  Constructed in 1739 at the king's expense, it was aimed at encouraging the settlement by providing a means to grind grain.  Operating with a mill stone imported from France, here was an indication that the Pointe was to be a permanent agricultural community.  A decade later, this goal was modified as the mill also served as a defensive purpose with five or six swivels mounted on it.  A wooden wharf completed the complex, serving schooners and bateaux that plied the lake". Pages 177-176.

When I last toured the site, I recall the guide told us the windmill was located close to the present day Champlain Memorial off the campground at Crown Point. See the Google location below for the approximate siting of the windmill!