Windmill Island, Holland, Michigan

by Liesl Walsh

Title

Windmill Island, Holland, Michigan

Artist

Liesl Walsh

Medium

Photograph - Digital Photograph

Description

There is an interesting story behind this windmill. It's named De Zwaan, which in Dutch means "The Swan" or "Graceful Bird". It was first built in Krommenie, the Netherlands, in 1761 and later moved to Vinkel, the Netherlands. In the United States, there is a town with many Dutch immigrants from the late 1800's. It's Holland, Michigan. Each spring Holland, Michigan hosts the very popular Tulip Time festival. Two residents of the town, Willand Wichers and Carter Brown, wanted to bring a Dutch windmill to Holland to pay homage to the city's Dutch heritage. But many windmills in the Netherlands were damaged in World War II, and the Dutch government put a ban on selling them outside of the Netherlands. But Wichers and Brown were able to get around that by purchasing a very heaviliy damaged windmill, the De Zwaan, which had an uncertain future. So the Dutch government sold it to Wichers for $2800, and it was the last windmill to leave the Netherlands. So in October 1964 the De Zwaan was transported by the Prins Willem van Oranje ship to the harbor of Muskegon, and then by truck to Windmill Island in Holland. It took around 6 months to reconstruct the mill, and in April 1965 it was dedicated. Windmill Island sits on 36 acres of reclaimed swampland on the eastern end of Lake Macatawa. De Zwaan is 125 feet tall and its blades are 80 feet long. It is still in use today. De Zwaan windmill is one of the prominent landmarks of Holland along with the Big Red Lighthouse which sits at the opposite end of Lake Macatawa at Lake Michigan.

Featured in the following FAA Groups:
Arts Fantastic World 7-13-2019
Water Forms 7-13-2019
Light Rays and Lightning 7-13-2019
Daily Promotion 7-13-2019
Created by Southern Artists 7-13-2019
USA Photography 7-14-2019
Whats New 7-14-2019
First Friday Gallery Group 7-14-2019
Images That Excite You 7-14-2019
Just Perfect 7-14-2019
Your Story of Art 7-14-2019
Music CD Cover Designs 7-15-2019
Photographic Camera Art 7-16-2019
Digital Art and Photography For a Simple Imagination 7-18-2019
Colors Blue Turquoise Photography and Paints 7-18-2019
No Place Like Home 7-18-2019
Lady Photographers and Artists 7-18-2019
World Landscape Lovers of Art 7-20-2019
Your Very Best Photography 7-22-2019
Midwest USA and International Scenery 7-23-2019
New FAA Uploads 7-28-2019
Art From the Past With Human Touch 8-5-2019
Shadows Silhouettes and Reflections Outdoors 8-22-2019
Camera Art 8-23-2019
Vacations 9-6-2019
Artist News 9-12-2019
Art For Ever With You 9-16-2019

Uploaded

July 13th, 2019

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