Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena, Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips, Village of Roslyn Mayor John Durkin, and members of Roslyn Landmark Society Board of Trustees and staff at the Roslyn Grist Mill historic site on September 8, 2025.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman visited the Roslyn Grist Mill on Monday, September 8, 2025, to personally present the Roslyn Landmark Society with the first $1 million of a $2 million Nassau County Capital Plan funding award for the grist mill’s restoration. The $2 million in funding will be utilized to complete the mill’s restoration into an educational museum. Upon completion the site will be accessible to the public for the first time since 1974 when the Tea House that operated in the historic mill between 1920-1974 shut its doors.
The Roslyn Grist Mill is owned by Nassau County, and the Roslyn Landmark Society non-profit organization has been tasked with overseeing the historic restoration and rehabilitation of the mill into a public history educational center. On April 22, 2025, the Nassau County Legislature approved County Executive Blakeman’s 2025 Nassau County Capital Plan which included $2 million for the Roslyn Grist Mill Project. Nassau County has been substantially invested in the restoration project since its inception and County Executive Blakeman has long supported the historic site’s preservation, recognizing it as one of the county’s most significant archeological and historical resources.
"Those people who know me know that I am a history buff,” said Nassau County Executive, Bruce Blakeman. “Doing this is a labor of love for me and I’m just honored to be here.”
The Roslyn Grist Mill is a rare surviving Dutch-framed watermill located at the head of Hempstead Harbor on Old Northern Boulevard in the Village of Roslyn. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it is one of few remaining colonial grist mills in the New York metropolitan area and believed to be the oldest surviving Dutch commercial building existent in the United States.
Beginning in 1698, John Robinson was granted permission by the Town of Hempstead to establish a grist mill at the Head of Hempstead Harbor, laying the foundation for what has been called a pivotal moment in history. This first mill at the present site helped foster the growth and expansion of Roslyn.
By 1709, Robinson sold the mill in what would be the first of several transfers over the next three centuries. In 1790, President George Washington visited the site and met with its owner, Hendrick Onderdonk, during his grand tour of Long Island. The leading advocate for the creation of Nassau County, Benjamin D. Hicks, also owned the mill for five years, from 1887-1892.
Howard Kroplick, co-president of the Roslyn Landmark Society, received the initial $1 million check of the overall $2 million award from County Executive Bruce Blakeman. Kroplick said: “Thank you County Executive Blakeman. The community expresses our great appreciation to you and the Nassau Legislature for the strong support of the historic restoration of the Roslyn Grist Mill. It was a promise made, and a promise kept.”
With this award, the interior and exterior restoration can be completed over the next two years, including installation of the roof, siding, floors, windows, and doors. Once the roof, siding, floors, windows and doors are complete the reinstallation of the mill’s husk frame, relocation of the storm water basin, construction of a new water wheel, and creation of an ADA entrance to ensure public accessibility will be the final stage of restoration/preservation.
"Today’s presentation of the initial one million dollars of funding displays concretely County Executive Blakeman’s commitment to the Roslyn community and to communities throughout Nassau County,” said Jordan Fensterman, co-vice president of the Roslyn Landmark Society. “School children throughout Nassau and beyond will be able to take school trips to the Grist Mill upon completion of restoration and this money will allow the project to head towards completion within the next one to two years!”
Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips, Roslyn Landmark Society trustee Rick Shaper, Roslyn Landmark Society Board of Trustees co-president Howard Kroplick, and Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena at the Roslyn Grist Mill historic site on September 8, 2025.
Jennifer Lister, Roslyn Landmark Society Project Manager, and Jaime Karbowiak, Roslyn Landmark Society Executive Director, at the Roslyn Grist Mill historic site on September 8, 2025.
1 Comments
This is just so wonderful to read! Great to see the Nassau County Executive recognize history and its importance to the whole of Nassau COunty. I have not met Bruce Blakeman in person but knew his Dad Bob Blakeman well. Bob and I belonged t the same pre WWII national car club for classic luxury cars and would have a coffee together once a week for years at the cruise night on Dogwood Avenue in Franklin Square. Bob would bring his Pierce Arrow, Lincoln or Cadillac V16 town car and I would bring one of my Packards or my 31 Franklin. Bob was an outstanding enthusiast and like me he loved to drive his old cars.