Wiantenuck 1903 Crystal Glass Ornament — Windmill Tower with Wheel and Vane, Faceted Edge

A windmill tower, a Housatonic name and the year 1903, on crystal glass.

The tower outlived everything built around it. Farm boys climbed its ladders on a dare, a photographer put it on a postcard, and the tax assessor listed it as the most valuable structure on the hill. When the senator was gone, a Gilded Age commodore of the New York yacht set bought the ridge, dammed the brook into a chain of lakes and cut carriage drives through the woods; a quieter family came after him, and in time the great house burned. The last owners, a sculptor and her husband, kept the land wild and gave it away, so that the ridge called Wiantenuck is open to anyone who walks its trails past the stone foundations and the spring, which still runs, even where the wheel no longer turns.

A decorative piece for adult collectors, not a toy; real glass, so hang it high if little hands roam the tree. Handle with care and wipe gently with a clean, dry microfiber cloth. This is the ornament for anyone who has walked the ridge, for Gilded Age estate and Housatonic Valley history buffs, for windmill admirers and for the friend who already owns the Wiantenuck tee, mug or tote and needs the tree to match.

In 1903 a Connecticut state senator and his wife, heiress to one of the great express companies of the day, bought a high ridge with a long view and gave it a name older than any deed: Wiantenuck, the word the Housatonic people used for their chief village and the hunting country around it. The first thing the couple raised was not the house but the windmill, a shingled tower five stories tall with a railed gallery under an octagonal cap and a steel wheel and vane turning above the treetops, pumping spring water up to a tank and down again to the barns, the greenhouses and the kitchen. The ornament carries that tower in pen and ink, lettered WIANTENVCK and MCMIII in the Roman style the senator's stonecutter favored, on a 3-inch round of faceted crystal glass.

The drawing sits on a white-backed face for crisp contrast, while the clear gem-cut beveled edge catches the tree lights and throws a subtle halo around the tower. A slim red ribbon threads the top for hanging from a branch, mantel hook or stand. A true 3-inch round in solid crystal glass, it arrives in your choice of white or gold gift box, ready to give as-is, tuck into a stocking or keep for the collection.

The Wiantenuck line began with the tower on a poster and a hoodie; this is its first ornament, drawn from the same mark. It hangs well beside the Heritage series and the town ornaments, each a 3-inch faceted crystal round with the same red ribbon and gift box.

3 in faceted crystal glass ornament · printed in the USA · white or gold gift box