De Zwaan Windmill (in Dutch, the name means “The Swan”) towers above the flowered fields that surround it, a great flightless bird with an 80-foot wingspan. On the bright summer day I visited, though the mighty wings remained at rest, De Zwaan still impressed me with its beauty and endurance. Over 180 years after its inauguration in the country of Holland, De Zwaan continues to flourish — and mill flour — in a new home in Holland, Michigan.
Photo by Susan Andress
The windmill actually functions more like a great sailing ship than a bird, with the miller the undisputed captain. The captain of De Zwaan happens to be unique among the world’s millers. Alisa Crawford is the first woman and first non-Dutch citizen accepted into the Professional Grain Millers Guild of the Netherlands and the only Dutch-certified miller in the United States. Since 2002, Crawford has steered her mighty vessel and kept her running smoothly.
De Zwaan’s History
De Zwaan is the only operating Dutch windmill in the United States. Alisa Crawford in her book, De Zwaan: The True Story of America’s Authentic Dutch Windmill, recounts the windmill’s history. Built in 1833, in Dordrecht, The Netherlands, De Zwaan began its life as a sawmill. In 1884, it was sold and moved to the nearby town of Vinkel, where it was converted into a flour mill. De Zwaan operated in Vinkel for another 80 years. At one time, 9000 windmills dotted the landscape of The Netherlands; today, only around 900 remain. Understandably, The Netherlands has become very protective of these iconic symbols of the nation’s heritage. Acquiring the mill from The Netherlands and transporting it to Holland, Michigan came about through years of negotiation. In the end, the government of The Netherlands agreed as a way to preserve De Zwaan from the ravages of time. In 1965, De Zwaan opened in its new home and has welcomed thousands of visitors each year since.
The Milling Process
The day I visited De Zwaan, a delightful young guide in traditional Dutch garb led me and a small group of visitors on a tour through the mill. Among us, a young man in training to become a miller asked far more pertinent questions than the rest of us could have mustered. Entering the mill, the pleasant aroma of freshly-milled flour filled the air — an aroma that promised fresh-baked breads, muffins, and cookies. While Crawford keeps her ship clean, flour has a way of seeping into every nook and cranny. As I followed our guide up through the body of the mill, that lovely smell drifted upward as well.
At De Zwaan, we learned, Crawford works with a team who help her with some of the processes involved in moving the grain and packaging the ground flour. She grinds only soft winter wheat grown in Western Michigan, which she turns into wholesome, whole wheat flour for sale to the public.
The Millstones 
Our young guide explained the steps in the milling process as we climbed the narrow staircase to each floor (I’ve refreshed my memory and on-site notes with Crawford’s wonderfully detailed book):
- THE GRAIN: They drive 50-pound bags of grain into the mill through big doors on ground floor. To hoist the heavy bags up five levels to the millstone floor, they tie two bags together with a rope that extends down through the grain elevator shaft. Using windpower, they wind the rope around a shaft, which lifts the bags upward.
- PREPPING THE MILL: From outside, the miller turns a capstan wheel on the roof to position the blades so they face the prevailing winds. If wind is light, she adds canvas sails to the blades to better catch the wind. Climbing a ladder to the dust floor on the sixth level, she manually engages the stone gear with the spur wheel; this transfers wind power to the stone gear and downward to turn the top millstone. (Prep work can take as long as two hours.)
- THE HOPPER: The team pours about 250 pounds of grain into a hopper positioned above the millstones. Once they load the hopper, the miller releases the brake and allows the blades to turn.
- THE MILLSTONES: The turning blades move the top millstone, an enormous stone 59 inches in diameter. The bottom stone, called the bedstone, remains stationary. The top stone turns at rate of 45 to 60 revolutions per minute. The amount of space between the two stones controls the fineness of the flour. For a fine grind, the space between the stones is about the thickness of a sheet of paper.
- FEEDING THE STONES: The miller feeds the grain from the hopper via a wooden tray (called the shoe) onto the stones at a steady pace. Each of the millstones have grooves in a circular pattern. These furrows crack the wheat, provide a path to get the ground grain to the edge of the stone, and leave an air space to cool the grain, which gets warm from the friction. On average, it takes about an hour to grind 250 pounds.
- THE FLOUR: Once the grain has been ground into flour, it descends through a chute to the storage floor (third level) into a stainless-steel bin. The bin can hold up to 4,400 pounds. After it cools and ages for a short time, the team releases the flour through a sliding door at the bottom of the bin along another chute to the packaging floor (second level). On this floor, the team sifts the floor to remove any large pieces of the grain’s outer shell. They then package the flour into two- or three-pound bags for retail or fifty-pound bags for wholesale. They freeze the small bags to protect the flour’s natural oils.
After the tour, I wondered around Windmill Island Gardens, the beautiful park that surrounds De Zwaan Windmill. The lushly landscaped park encompasses more than 60,000 flowers, a bridge over a meandering stream, a hand-painted Dutch carousel, children’s playground, picnic area, and Dutch-themed shops.
Every spring, Windmill Island Gardens hosts Holland’s Tulip Festival, with over 10,000 tulips in bloom. While I thoroughly enjoyed my day at De Zwaan, I may have to return for the tulips.
Ordering Information
Mill products are available for sale on Windmill Island Gardens during the season. To order in advance for pick up, email windmill@cityofholland.com.
For more information about De Zwaan and Windmill Island Gardens, go to https://www.cityofholland.com/471/Windmill-Island-Gardens