Town Will Be Joint Owner of Dix Windmill With Village of Westhampton Beach

A proposed restoration of the Governor John Adams Dix Windmill moved forward this week as the Southampton Town Board voted to become a joint owner of the historic structure, which now sits disassembled and shrink-wrapped in a corner of the Great Lawn in the Village of Westhampton Beach.

In accepting the donation of an undivided joint ownership interest of the windmill from the village, the town can now leverage its Community Preservation Fund to help facilitate funding for the restoration and preservation of the windmill for the eventual enjoyment of the public, via an amendment to the town’s CPF Stewardship plan.

Westhampton Beach would remain the steward of the circa 1873 windmill when it is restored. The windmill, which historically drew and pumped well water, was donated to the village and saved from demolition in 2021 and subsequently landmarked as a historical structure in 2023 by the Town of Southampton.

Westhampton Beach Mayor Ralph Urban told the board during a public hearing that preceded the vote that the windmill was one of the only water-pumping windmills left on the East End and that the plan was to get it to function again as part of the restoration. The village issued a request for proposals for bidders in November 2023 to restore the windmill to its original state.

The windmill was removed from a private property on Sunswyck Lane after the owners there donated it to the village — the estate was once the home of Dix — and sent in parts to the Great Lawn in July 2022. Urban recalled moving those sections as he described it as a “fun project, very positive.”

Southampton Town CPF Program Manager Jacqueline Fenlon highlighted too, during the public hearing that “quick coordination and action” was undertaken “to make sure this structure was saved.”