The 1850 census/survey of Santorini by Dekigalas Joseph
mentions that there were 78 windmills, and some watermills, but no horse mills.
It is fair to assume that all the windmills would have been tower mills.
Some probably survived working up to the 1956 earthquake, and now 65+ years later,
a number remain in a ruined state, with a number of at least visual restorations,
though I don't know if any are internally restored.
In the comparatively dry conditions of the country, even without a roof, the major wooden gear wheels
have survived, even on otherwise abandoned and sometimes ruinous remains.
A number have been converted, principally to residential use, which on a holiday island such as this
often means to short term holiday rental use.
In many places there was not just a single mill, but often a whole row of them lining a ridge.
The mills were typically a gently sloping tower of local rough shaped stones, capped with a conical roof.
The sails were attached to a wooden windshaft, morticed through to take typically 6 through sail bars,
on which 12 triangular canvas sails would be fixed. The ends of the sail bars were wired to each other,
and also to a bowsprit which extended from the end of the windshaft.
The main gear of the mill was a wooden brake wheel, attached in a clasp arm method to the windshaft.
The drive was then taken via a lantern pin gear on a short vertical iron shaft to turn the runner stone.
I have seen just one photo so far of the millstones - this showed a segmented stone,
though I can't tell if that is local volcanic stone, or imported (French) burr.
In recent years, a whole street of identical mock mills have been built, as a development of villas
on a hillside near Pori, and several of those are used for holiday rentals.
One of 8 extant windmill towers remaining on the hillside of Gavrilos Hill above Emporio.
(Actually there's a 9th tower that's built in to another building, and clearly the site of
other mills up the hillside road).
As the lowest, and hence most easily reached mill in the sequence, this record has been
assigned all the info that applies to the whole set of mills.
I have yet to verify this info, but a webpage notes that:
The windmills were designated as historical monuments by the Ministry of Culture on August 3, 1993.
6 of them have been granted to the Municipality of Thira.
A study prepared on behalf of the municipality suggested 2 of them to be restored to working order, 1 to be turned into museum, another to become a café, and the remaining 2 to become retail outlets.
I assume that the other 2 are privately owned. For many years one of the ruined towers had for sale details painted on it.
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The second Oia mill, which is probably an original tower, but the building work on it has introduced
a windshaft protruding from the tower, rather than its rightful location in the cap.
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