Boyd’s Eight-vane Wind Grist Mill is one of the last two survivors of more than twenty known wind mills which once worked to supply the daily needs of Aquidneck Island. It is the only eight-vane smock mill ever built and operated in New England and one of the very few survivors in the United States. In 1810, John Peterson built this mill and a house on fifty-six acres of land near the intersection of Mill Lane and West Main Road in Portsmouth, Rhode Island and where the mill remained for 185 years. William Boyd first leased the mill then bought it in 1815. It has been known as Boyd’s Wind Grist Mill ever since. Peterson and two millwrights constructed the mill in an octagonal "smock" style, so-called because of an alleged resemblance to a man in a smock – the loose garment our forefathers wore during weekdays.
It was a basic four-vane mill of three floors without sophistication. It is eight-sided, the tower 30 feet in height with a round top, or cap, 8 feet in height making the total height of the mill 38 feet. It is 18 feet wide at the bottom and 15 feet in diameter at the top. The usual pattern of smock mills was based upon eight sides, the key structural members are the stout cant (or corner) posts which form each corner.
The mill as built, had four common vanes, each 28 feet long and 7 feet, 4 inches wide. Except for the first five years until Peterson, the mill was owned and operated by three generations of Boyds. William ran the mill from 1815 to 1851. He then sold the mill to his son, Leander, who ran the mill from 1851 until 1879, when the mill was passed to his son, Benjamin F. C Boyd who continued its operation for the rest of its active life. In 1884, Benjamin Boyd made extensive repairs and improvements.
The mill as built, had four common vanes, each 28 feet long and 7 feet, 4 inches wide. Except for the first five years until Peterson, the mill was owned and operated by three generations of Boyds. William ran the mill from 1815 to 1851. He then sold the mill to his son, Leander, who ran the mill from 1851 until 1879, when the mill was passed to his son, Benjamin F. C Boyd who continued its operation for the rest of its active life. In 1884, Benjamin Boyd made extensive repairs and improvements.
In 1901, the third Mr. Boyd remodeled his mill from four vanes to eight vanes. The main advantage of eight vanes was the ability to work in light winds and thus be capable of work on more days per year. However, the effectiveness of Boyd’s eight vane design is in some doubt because in 1916 Boyd converted the mill to gasoline power and the eight vanes were removed. In the mill’s 1998 restoration, the eight vanes were restored.
Boyd’s mill was built originally to provide feed for fattening beef, pork and poultry and to produce some selected grists for family use and for trading. For years, feed grinding was the principal business and it has been stated that from 1840 to 1884, grain from almost every Aquidneck Island farm passed through the mill.
However, with the development of the West, with its cheap grain and meat products, it became evident that the grinding of feed locally was a vanishing industry. Therefore, the Boyd family concentrated on the grinding of Rhode Island Johnny Cake Meal until that proved unprofitable. For 135 years, the mill served Peterson and the Boyd family. For almost fifty years after the mill ceased operation, the mill languished in disuse. For 185 years the mill never moved from its original Portsmouth location until 1990 when the Boyd family donated the old mill to the Middletown Historical Society for its relocation and restoration that began in 1995.
Fortuitously, the mill became available at the same time that Paradise Valley Park was being developed thus providing a perfect new setting deep in the heart of historic Paradise Valley. Through the combined efforts of countless craftsmen, volunteers, and benefactors, the mill has been fully restored and now serves as the centerpiece of the Historical Society’s preservation efforts. The mill is open to the public on Sunday afternoons from May through September and guided tours are provided by a team of knowledgeable volunteer docents. For safety reasons, we are unable to allow visitors in the mill when it is operating.
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