Label Contest Announced- Calling All Artists and Photographers

The Lefferts Tide Mill & Preserve is sponsoring a Label Design Contest for photographers and artists!! The winning image of this 18th-century tide mill will be printed on the labels of a custom brew issued by Six Harbors Brewing Company this August, and the winner will be celebrated at a special awards ceremony at the brewery.

The Label Design Contest is open to photographers and artists. We will accept one black-and-white and/or one-color entry. The label specs are 8x4.8125" with .125" bleed around. We will accept landscape orientation photos and drawings. Photos and camera-ready art should be submitted to Claudia Fortunato-Napolitano, Executive Director, at cfortunato@leffertstidemill.org or mailed to Lefferts Mill at P.O. Box 1481 Huntington, NY 11743, by June 30, 2024.

If you are a photographer or an artist, be creative! It is our mission to restore the eighteenth-century Tide Mill & Dam. As such, a barge is filled with tools in front of the Tide Mill. Your goal is to capture the essence of the Tide Mill.

For creative inspiration, take a tour of the mill operated by the Huntington Historical Society, paddle your kayak to the end of Puppy Cove.

The Lefferts Tide Mill & Preserve is a not-for-profit organization, established in 2013, with a mission to preserve and protect an 18th century tide mill, located in the Village of Lloyd Harbor, that is the best-preserved tidal grist mill in the United States. The mill design is based on U.S. Patent No. 3 for an “automatic mill” signed by President George Washington. The mill pond has flourished into a haven for native and migratory waterfowl, contributing significantly to the region’s biodiversity.

For more information, contact Claudia Fortunato-Napolitano at cfortunato@leffertstidemill.org .

Major Renovation Project Near Completion

What a difference a year makes!

The Van Wyck-Lefferts Tide Mill has seen amazing improvements in the past year.  In 2021, we completed long-overdue repairs to the dam.  The boulder walls on the east side of the dam were power washed and re-cemented, missing boulders were hoisted and re-secured, and the stone wall on the west side of the dam was rebuilt and extended 100 feet to connect to the northern shoreline. Soil that had migrated into the pond with each overtopping was recaptured, and the inner section of the dam was excavated and filled with stones wrapped in geotech fabric.  The dam surface was restored to its original design height and slightly contoured to allow for controlled runoff.  The dangerous and decayed upper bridge over the spillway was removed and the lower bridge beneath it was restored and new handrails added.

At the gristmill, master timber framers have replaced or repaired damaged beams, rafters, roof plates, collar ties and floorboards.  The entire structure has been squared up, and a new cedar shingle roof, laid atop a high-tech snow and ice shield set on pine board sheathing, should be fully installed by year end to replace the failing plywood and asphalt shingle roof.

In the course of these repairs we made some major discoveries.  What we suspected was a lift for the waterwheel turned out to be an upside down cider press.  Wooden gears that we thought were inoperable still interlock and turn.  Once lubricated, an 18th century swivel crane lifted and repositioned the grain hopper as easily as the millers must have done nearly 225 years ago.

How have we paid for all this?  We are a not-for-profit organization established in 2013.  When we took title to the 17-acre historic mill and bird sanctuary in 2019, we received a $200,000 foundational grant from The Nature Conservancy.  In 2020, we were awarded a $97,000 matching grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation.  And since our group’s inception, we have raised from board members, friends and neighbors, more than $100,000.

Looking ahead, we have three ambitious goals in mind:

Repairing and re-armoring the bulkhead that protects the mill.  The bulkhead was built in the 1980s and is reaching the end of its useful life;

Devising and implementing a sustainable solution for vegetation on the cobble surface of the repaired dam that will withstand frequent salt-water overtopping; and

Developing a program to share this time capsule and window into 18th century life and technology with the public.

The progress we have made is remarkable.  Can you help us with either time or money?  If you would like to be involved, please contact me.  We have no staff, so there is plenty to do.  Thank you.  Stay warm and safe, and Happy Holidays.

Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation Awards $97,000 Matching Grant

The Van Wyck-Lefferts Tide Mill Sanctuary is proud to announce that the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation has awarded it a grant of $97,137.50 to help restore one of the earliest industrial buildings on Long Island.  The matching grant will help underwrite the cost of vitally important repairs to the 223-year-old tide mill building and the dam on which it sits, both of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The grant will fund restoration of the earthen dam, installation of a new roof on the mill building, as well as interior structural repairs.  Work is expected to be completed by the middle of 2021.  The next phase of the restoration project will include shoring up the bulkhead which protects the mill’s stone foundation and restoration of the bridge over the spillway that connects the north and south sections of the dam.

The mill is considered one of the best preserved eighteenth century tide mills in the United States and is one of only ten surviving examples of tide mills in the northeast from Virginia to Maine.  The funding from the Gardiner Foundation will help to ensure the continued preservation of this remarkable structure, which was built in 1797 and continued to serve local farmers for the next three quarters of a century.

The Van Wyck-Lefferts Tide Mill Sanctuary, Inc., was formed in 2014 to assume ownership from The Nature Conservancy of the tide mill, the dam, and the mill pond to insure the future preservation of this significant pre-industrial factory.  The not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) organization is dedicated to the preservation of the mill and to maintain the preserve as a sanctuary for native and migratory waterfowl and as an important contributor to the bio-diversity of the surrounding area.

Prior to the pandemic, the mill was open for guided tours through the Huntington Historical Society, which works closely with the Van Wyck-Lefferts Tide Mill Sanctuary, to ensure that this historic treasure, which is accessible to the public only by water, is shared with as many people as possible.  The Town of Huntington provides a launch boat to ferry visitors to the site from Gold Star Battalion Beach.

According to the National Register nomination, “The Van Wyck-Lefferts Grist Mill is the best extant example of a tide mill with its original machinery surviving on Long Island.  Operated until the late nineteenth century, the mill is highly significant for its structural and technological integrity.”

In the words of T. Allan Comp, National Park Service Chief Historian in 1984: “In the seven years I spent as a Senior Historian of the Historic American Engineering Record, the Van Wyck-Lefferts mill still stands out as a remarkable survivor, perhaps the only one of its kind to still remain with so many of its original features…. Mills served us in their first century of existence, survived our neglect in their second, and now depend on our attention to bring them into their third century as living historical monuments. To let any of those valuable cultural resources suffer any further neglect is almost unthinkable. To let the Van Wyck-Lefferts mill, the only survivor of its kind, suffer the same neglect is even worse. Tide mills once occupied almost every possible site up and down the East Coast. Today none survive with the historical integrity found in the Van-Wyck-Lefferts mill. The mill is a remnant of a past long-vanished from Long Island, our only access to the actual craftsmanship and technology of pre-industrial America.”

The mill building is a three and one-half story gable roofed, timber frame wood structure located on a 400’ long earthen dam.  Both the dam and the mill were built in the 1790s and survive remarkably intact.  Unlike stream fed mills, a tide mill impounds water from the tides to turn the wheel that powers the mill.

The Van-Wyck-Lefferts mill was the last of three tidal mills built in Huntington. The mill ceased operations around 1870.  The mill and dam remained on privately owned land until 1969 when it was deeded to the Nature Conservancy. In 2019, the Nature Conservancy deeded the property with its existing mill and dam to the Van Wyck-Lefferts Tide Mill Sanctuary.  Richard Hamburger, President of the organization, stated, “The mill is a historical treasure that both delights and inspires.  The Board of Directors is deeply grateful to the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation for this generous matching grant as we work to design and develop programs to increase public access, awareness and enjoyment.”

Nature Conservancy Transfers Historic Building and Nature Sanctuary to Non-Profit

VAN WYCK-LEFFERTS TIDE MILL SANCTUARY, INC. TAKES OWNERSHIP AND STEWARDSHIP OF THE 18TH CENTURY MILL AND SURROUNDING ACREAGE 

Cold Spring Harbor, NY (January, 2019) – The Nature Conservancy today announced the transfer of a 17-acre parcel to a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to promote responsible public access and enjoyment of the Van Wyck-Lefferts Tide Mill and the Mill Cove Waterfowl Sanctuary in the Village of Lloyd Harbor in Huntington, New York.

The new organization will repair, maintain and preserve the unique building, the best preserved 18th century tidal gristmill in the country known to remain in its original location. The adjacent pond will remain a sanctuary for resident and migratory waterfowl.

“We are confident the dam and neighboring pond will be well taken care of by the Van Wyck-Lefferts Tide Mill Sanctuary, Inc.,” said Nancy Kelley, Director of The Nature Conservancy on Long Island. “We are so pleased to be working with a concerned group of citizens who will protect this valuable historic resource.”

“Stewardship of this historically unique and environmentally sensitive property is both a great privilege and a sobering responsibility,” said Richard Hamburger, President of the new non-profit. “We look forward to caring for this property and sharing it with the larger community.”

The Van Wyck-Lefferts Tide Mill Sanctuary, Inc. is in the process of securing permits and approvals for a substantial dam repair project to begin in the spring, and developing a long-range plan for the preservation and maintenance of the mill and dam.  The organization will be partnering with the Huntington Historical Society to continue and expand tours and other public education activities.

The pond, dam and tide mill were originally gifted to The Nature Conservancy in 1969 and 1972 by concerned local residents who sought to protect the unique structures and natural values of the site. In the following decades, the Conservancy has invested considerable resources, including both private and public funds, to protect, restore and repair the historic tide mill and dam. 

Significant support was provided by grants through the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. The Nature Conservancy has also made a grant with the transfer of property to help underwrite the costs for repair, maintenance and management of the preserve and the structures on it. 

Individuals wishing to get involved or contribute may visit www.huntingtontidemill.org or contact Richard Hamburger.  For the Huntington Historical Society, contact Toby Kissam at robertkissam@gmail.com.