CANCELLED: Maritime Lecture Series

Windmill Sails and Millers Tales

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The Michigan Maritime Museum’s Maritime Lecture Series will continue February 13, featuring presenter Alisa Crawford, America’s first Dutch certified miller, who operates the De Zwaan Windmill in Holland, Michigan. Find out what it takes to run a real working windmill by someone who knows it well.  Crawford will share the behind the scenes stories from a miller’s perspective and will also discuss the crossovers to sailing vessels, another important part of Dutch culture and heritage.

Alisa Crawford has been working in the history field since the age of 15 and in mills since the age of 17. She holds a BA in history from Kalamazoo College and a master’s degree from the Cooperstown Graduate Program in History Museum Studies. Although raised in Michigan, she has worked, studied or interned in a variety of additional states including Virginia, Massachusetts, Kentucky, New York and Hawai’i. In 2002, she returned to her love of mills by joining the staff of Windmill Island in Holland, MI. In 2006, she began her training in the Netherlands and in September of 2007 became the first overseas student to become a Dutch certified miller. In 2009, she qualified for the professional millers training and after completing the course, was admitted into the professional grain millers’ guild as the only woman among 35 Dutch men. Alisa has been featured in several magazines, including "Oprah," and is the author of the award-winning book “De Zwaan: The True Story of America’s Authentic Dutch Windmill.” She continues to blaze a trail that is all her own, reaching new heights along the way, and proving that she is far from a “run of the mill” woman.

The lecture will take place in the Museum’s Lake Michigan’s Call to Duty exhibit from 6:30–7:30 p.m. on February 13. Admission is $8, $7 for seniors.  There is no admission fee for Museum members. The Museum will be open beginning at noon the day of the lecture and 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays the month of February. For more information, contact the Museum at 269-637-8078, ext. 3 or visit michiganmaritimemuseum.org/events/.