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!

Windmills in Québec II - Moulin de Grondines

Preservationists have salvaged and restored the remaining 18 windmills in Québec.  Preservation is a continual process.  The windmill at Grondines is the oldest remaining windmill in Québec, built in 1674.

Before the restoration

Directly on the St Lawrence

A full scale model of the interior

Association des moulins du Québec was organized to preserve, protect and education the public about the windmills.

Windmills in Québec I, Moulin á Repentigny

Once upon a time there were more windmills about.  In Québec, I found a few still remaining....one in Repentigny where the Rivet family settled and grew....