Russian replica windmill built at Fort Ross, California

The first windmill in California was buit at the Russian settlement of Fort Ross on the Northern Californian coast in around 1814. Almost 200 hundred years later, this location once again sports a fully functional windmill, in the form of a replica mill constructed in Russia, and shipped out for reassembly in California. The mill was formally ready for inclusion in the Fort Ross Harvest Festival celebration weekend 2012, though has been many years in the planning. It was donated to Fort Ross by Victor Vekselberg's Link of Times foundation, a Russian-based cultural and historical charity.

The construction of the mill is illustrated at a extensive site dedicated to the whole project.

There are news reports at

• Press Democrat
• Press Democrat
• Forbes
• The Voice of Russia