Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips delivered the second $1 million installment of a $2 million capital plan award to support the ongoing restoration of the Roslyn Grist Mill on Friday, April 24.

The funding will help complete remaining phases of work on the historic site, including installation of siding, windows and doors, along with continued structural and accessibility upgrades needed to reopen the mill to the public.

“This is an investment in the culture and history of our county,” Blakeman said during the presentation at the mill site. “This grist mill means a lot to the history and the fabric of our great county.”

The Roslyn Grist Mill, owned by Nassau County and managed by the Roslyn Landmark Society, has been closed to the public since 1974. Built in the late 1690s as a Dutch-framed watermill at the head of Hempstead Harbor, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is believed to be the oldest surviving Dutch commercial structure in the United States.

Howard Kroplick, co-president of the Roslyn Landmark Society, said the second round of funding will allow the project to move closer to completion after more than a decade of work.

“This has really enabled us to finish up phase two of this project and even start phase three,” Kroplick said. “We’ll be able to finish the siding, the windows and the doors, and it’s going to look like the grist mill looked in the 1700s.”

Kroplick said the project has relied on support from multiple public and private partners, including Nassau County, federal grants and charitable organizations.

“It takes a lot of support not only from the community, but from government agencies and foundations,” he said. “It’s wonderful that after all these years it’s being restored.”

Jordan Festerman, co-vice president of the Roslyn Landmark Society, said the funding is essential to completing the restoration and preparing the site for future public use.

“This will be a museum within the next year to 18 months where schoolchildren can learn how grain was turned into bread and how this process worked,” he said.

Source: LI Press