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Timeline

Y/M/D Person Association Description Composition Food Event
Y/M/D Person Association Description Composition Food Event
1790/00/00 A windmill is erected c 1790, or earlier, to the east of the cottage. The structure will operate as a grist-mill until 1843.
1800/00/00 Martin Nichols, a mariner, builds a cottage about 1800 or earlier on a corner lot at Division and West Streets.
1805/00/00 William Greene, a decedent of early settlers of the Warwick-East Greenwich area, buys Nichols cottage.
1808/00/00 Franklin Greene Home William Greene sells his house to a relative, Franklin Greene, nephew of the General Nathanael Greene.
1811/00/00 Ethan Clarke Home Franklin Greene sells his residence to Ethan Clarke, first president of the Rhode Island Central Bank.
1835/00/00 Henry Elbridge buys the cottage, lives here and operates the grist-mill on the opposite street-corner until milling became unprofitable in 1843.
1866/00/00 George Washington Greene Home Henry W Longfellow deeds the cottage to George Washington Greene's wife, Katherine Van B Porter Greene.
1866/00/00 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Benefactor Henry Wadsworth Longfellow buys a cottage as a gift and residence for his friend, Professor George Washington Greene.
1870/00/00 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Benefactor Henry W Longfellow buys the windmill and has it moved and then attached at the south-west corner of the house. The house is enlarged with a south-eastern kitchen ell.
1880/04/18 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Poet Longfellow writes to Greene from Cambridge, "I have written several poems of late, one of which, 'The Windmill', I send you." Its first stanza runs: Behold a giant am I, Aloft here in my tower, With my granite jaws I devour, foundation fair

Data »

Particulars for Windmill Cottage:
Area of Significance Architecture
Criteria Architecture-Engineering
Sight Category Building
Area of Significance Commerce
Area of Significance Education
Criteria Historic Event
Area of Significance Literature
Level of Significance National
Owner Private
Historic Use Single dwelling
Structure Type Windmill



US National Registry of Historic Places Data »

Accurate at time of registration: 22nd May 1973

PLACE DETAILS
Registry Name: Windmill Cottage
Registry Address: 144 Division St.
Registry Number: 73000051
Resource Type: Building
Owner: Private
Architect: unknown
Architectural Style: No style listed
Contributing Buildings: 1
Certification: Listed in the National Register
CULTURAL DETAILS
Level of Significance: National
Area of Significance: Commerce, Literature, Education, Architecture
Applicable Criteria: Event, Architecture-Engineering
Period of Significance: 1850-1874, 1800-1824, 1750-1799, 1825-1849
Significant Year: c 1790, c 1800, 1870
Historic Function: Domestic
Historic Sub-Function: Single dwelling
Current Function: Domestic
Current Sub-Function: Single dwelling

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