New York Traveler.net

Madison County Windmill Farm, Fenner, NY

July 24, 2006
After our excursion to Lorenzo House and Chittenango Falls State Park, we drove up to Route 23 and to Peterboro Road in the town of Fenner, Madison County. There are over a dozen of these gorgeous, clean-looking windmills that can be seen from miles away, and Fenner claims to host the largest wind power project on the East Coast.

I took this photo from my vehicle. Such beautiful, green hills of Madison County. Can you see the windmills in the distance?

The sky is so blue with the slightest tinge of pink. It is beautiful up here. Not too windy today, though.

I kind of like the idea of windmills, and windpower. But I hear there is a “dark side” to living near them.

We spent some time circling the area of the windmills. My ancestors, the Parsons (from Northampton, Mass.) and Hatch families (from New London, Conn.) founded this area of Fenner/Chittenango/Cazenovia in 1801. I had done some genealogy research last year, and located their burial sites in Fenner and Cazenovia.

The land is really beautiful. Wide open spaces with a spectacular blue sky. Makes me want to dump my house in town and start my own homestead.

From what I have heard, one of the windmill’s blades broke in November 2007.

It’s one of the most visible sights in Madison County; one of the blades on the Fenner Wind Turbines broke in mid-November, and is still not fixed.

A representative for General Electric, who built the huge turbines, says the weather has been too snowy, too cold, and too windy to get up and fix the blade. As soon as they get a stretch of more-mild weather, they say they’ll be up there as soon as possible to make the fix.

Here’s a recent photo of a blade break. It’s hard to tell if that’s a crane repairing it.