Southampton officials want 300-year-old Stony Brook windmill returned to original site

Southampton Town officials are asking Gov. Andrew Cuomo to move one of the nation’s oldest windmills from Stony Brook University’s Southampton campus back to its original home. But the school likes it just where it is.

The windmill was built in 1713 and stood on Windmill Lane until 1890 when the Hoyt family moved it to their estate in nearby Shinnecock Hills, according to the East Hampton Star. That property later became the Southampton College campus, then became Stony Brook Southampton, part of the New York state university system.

Southampton Village Mayor Jesse Warren said the windmill “represents the unique history of Southampton Village,” and wants it returned to Windmill Lane.

But the windmill is popular with Stony Brook students and regularly hosts events like dinners, workshops, and receptions. The school doesn’t appear ready to give it up.

“The windmill is beloved by the hundreds of students, faculty, and administrators, from Long Island University through Stony Brook University, who rightly associate the windmill with the very identity of the campus,” said a school spokesperson said. [Easthampton Star] — Dennis Lynch