A new set of sails now adorns the Pantigo Windmill on the grounds of Home, Sweet Home Museum in East Hampton Village.
More than a year ago, the Rev. Dr. Ben Shambaugh of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, adjacent to the Home, Sweet Home property, noticed that one of the sails had fallen, said Hugh King, the museum’s longtime director and the village historian. The village’s Highway Department sent a cherry picker and removed the sails -- “It was just hanging,” Mr. King said. “They replaced all the blades, which was the right thing to do. All were compromised.”
Samuel Schellinger began building the Pantigo Mill for Huntting Miller in 1804. “It started on a hill at the end of Mill Hill Lane,” Mr. King said. Construction of a second mill, by Nathaniel Dominy V for John Lyon Gardiner and other sponsors, began a few months later.
The Pantigo Mill changed hands over the years, and the mill was moved to the corner of Pantigo Road and Egypt Lane, “we think where the Verizon building is,” Mr. King said. It stood there for 72 years, until Gustav Buek bought the mill and moved it behind Home, Sweet Home. It saw extensive repair in 1984 and ‘85.
With modern machinery, it took just a day to put the stock, the main spar that passes through the head of the sail assembly, back into the windshaft, Mr. King said. “How,” he wondered, “did the Dominys and Schellingers do this in 1804?”
The Pantigo Mill was dedicated to Mr. King in 2023, on the occasion of the 375th anniversary of East Hampton Town. “With his theatrical storytelling, jovial disposition, and effortless humor, Hugh King has conjured living history for generations of students, museum visitors, and partakers of the village’s celebrated walking tours,” reads a plaque on the windmill. “His strong commitment and dedication to our historic community ensures that the legacy of East Hampton lives on.”
