As it turns out, Barbados has a longstanding relationship with windmills.

The island once had over 500 windmills that were used in sugar production. Today, you can still see many windmill bases all over the island as shades of their former selves. Only one of the windmills is intact: the Morgan Lewis windmill. The Morgan Lewis windmill, located in St. Andrew, is also one of only two functioning sugar mills left in the world.

We decided to visit the Morgan Lewis windmill on the recommendation of a docent at the Arlington House Museum in Speightstown. Arlington House is a great little interactive museum. The staff has put a lot of thought into how visitors can access and explore Barbados’s past. One thing I appreciated was how the museum put the sugar industry and slavery in context. Sugar may be sweet but its production with slave labor was a nasty business. Although a little pricey, the Arlington House Museum is a good preface to the Morgan Lewis windmill.

It was quiet when we arrived at the Morgan Lewis windmill. If not for a another family on the grounds, we wouldn’t have known it was open for visitors. But after years of being in and out of repairs, the windmill is back. It’s working its way up to being a fully functional attraction. We walked around for a few minutes to take in the windmill and views before being greeted by a guide. She gave us a brief history of the windmill and some of the work that’s gone into fixing it.

For a nominal fee, we decided to climb to the top of the windmill. Inside, we got a firsthand look at the many components involved in processing sugarcane. There was even some leftover sugarcane debris from the last time the windmill was running (periodically, the windmill is used to grind sugarcane).

Our stop at the Morgan Lewis windmill reminded me of a windmill I recently visited in Holland (blog entry coming soon!). Like Morgan Lewis, it has been converted into an attraction. While it is not a sugar mill (it’s used for flour), it is functional and a popular landmark in the area. I couldn’t help but think back to how well that mill has been preserved. The inside of that mill is packed with tons of information and history too. The Morgan Lewis windmill has the potential to become a star attraction. I hope the restoration continues smoothly because this windmill is a significant reminder of Barbados’s history as one of the biggest sugar producers whose riches came at a grave price.

Trivia

Here’s a fun fact that our guide shared before we left: the Morgan Lewis windmill has appeared on the silver screen! Scenes from the movie Island in the Sun (starring Harry Belafonte and Joan Fontaine) were filmed in parts of Barbados, including at the mill. Part of the film’s famed interracial romance played out at the Morgan Lewis windmill (skip to 1:20:50 for the mill). Another element of the restoration efforts is incorporating this more upbeat bit of history into the experience at Morgan Lewis.