Many of us enjoy a favorite pastime or avocation in our spare time, but it’s probably safe to say that few hobbyists engage in such leisure activities as rebuilding antique windmills and sawmills or repairing musical keyboard instruments like the organ.
The public will have a rare opportunity to watch two such individuals - Steve Davis and Richard Sherman - demonstrate these unusual hobbies during a summer event sponsored by the Upper Unadilla Valley Association. Demonstrations will run from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, July 30, at the Davis residence at 654 U.S. Route 20 in West Winfield.
The event is free.
Davis, who inherited his love of machinery from his grandfather George Hiteman and the former tannery that was in the village, will operate the antique windmill and sawmill he rebuilt.
The wooden windmill, which dates back to 1877, was used in the hamlet of Toddsville in Otsego County until about 1940, when it was chopped down and fell into a swamp. Many of its parts had been removed by the time Davis brought home the remains - essentially a wheel hub and turntable - two years ago.
The sawmill, which originated around 1915, had disintegrated in an Otsego County pasture near Edmeston until Davis used a tractor loader to recover the…
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