August 15, 2015

1828 NETHERLANDS (Aruba) - The Old Dutch Windmill

Aruba
1828 The Old Dutch Windmill

Located near the Palm Beach, right where J.E. Irausquin Blvd makes a jug handle turn near the Aruba Butterfly Farm, this windmill is now a restaurant. It is an authentic Dutch windmill, built in 1804 in Friesland, Netherlands, originally used to drain water from low lying land, and later used as a grain mill. By 1929, two storms had damaged it to the point where it was useless and abandoned. In 1960 it was purchased by a private merchant, who had it carefully disassembled, shipped to Aruba, where was.reassembled.

In March of 1962 the restaurant De Olden Molden opened for business. Since then, many restaurants, bars and nightclubs have opened and closed at the site. Local legend has it that a witch placed a hex on the building after the restaurant then known as The Mill was sold in the mid 1970’s, which may explain the frequent business failures at the site since. In the 1970’s the Old Dutch Windmill was featured in the Aruba Tourism Authority’s original "One Happy Island" advertising campaign.

About the stamps
The stamp is part of a definitive series issued in 2009, and depicting Alto Vista Chapel, about which I wrote here.

References
Aruba's Old Dutch Windmill - arubablog.net

Sender: Denise
Sent from Oranjestad (Aruba), on 04.07.2014

No comments:

Post a Comment