Vieux-Moulin de Pointe-aux-Trembles

The Vieux-Moulin de Pointe-aux-Trembles is a stone windmill that was built in 1719 to replace an earlier mill the river had damaged. It's a classic fieldstone tower capped with a cedar-shingle roof. It was used to mill grain into flour until 1866. Uniquely small holes were cut into the tower because the mill was designed to double as a refuge if the settlement came under attack. The windmill now stands all alone in a public park, so you can walk the whole way round and choose your background, street on one side and the river on the other. You can set up low and close for the fieldstone texture, or back off across the park and let the tower sit against sky. Inside the mill there's a small museum, but it is only open on a limited schedule and mostly in summer. (Montréal, Québec, Canada)