{"id":83204,"date":"2018-01-11T00:08:38","date_gmt":"2018-01-11T05:08:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wend.ca\/?p=83204"},"modified":"2020-07-03T15:55:54","modified_gmt":"2020-07-03T19:55:54","slug":"moulin-a-vent-de-pointe-claire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wend.ca\/?p=83204","title":{"rendered":"Le Moulin \u00e0 vent de Pointe-Claire"},"content":{"rendered":"

During one of the coldest days of the year (a tough feat because there have been a lot of cold days this year), we headed out to one of the windiest, unprotected, desolate, ice-covered parts of the West Island… to see a windmill. <\/p>\n

I’m sure it’s very beautiful in the summer but the stupidity of our planned trip was highlighted by the cut-through-your-body<\/em> wind that dominated the whole experience. Just getting out of the Jeep was tortuous; I was afraid to turn it off so we kept it running.<\/p>\n

This windmill must be tough to survive at this location and the people who live here must be equally as tough: the stone structure is next to a seminary owned by St-Joachim Parish (it’s for sale<\/a>). <\/p>\n

The windmill has been here a very long time (since 1710) and undoubtedly seen many cold, windy winters. Like all French windmills from the 18th century, it’s rigged with gun slits and a moveable roof. The slits have never seen gunfire. <\/p>\n

The stonemason who built this windmill was the same ones who were contracted to either build or renovate the Moulin de l’\u00cele-Perrot<\/a> (Jean Mars). The two windmills look at each other from across the St. Lawrence.<\/p>\n

There was absolutely no one else around to enjoy the experience.<\/p>\n