Cape Cod and the Islands have a long and important history with wind power. Not only did the first European settlers arrive on Cape Cod from the wind powering their sails but when they got here and realized how windy it was they began erecting windmills to pump water from the ground and to grind grain. During the American Revolutionary War the British cut off salt supplies (important for preserving fish and meat) and the Continental Congress called on patriots to make their own salt. It was on Cape Cod that people first tried using windmills on the shoreline of Nantucket Sound to paddle saltwater onto land that would later dry leaving behind the salt. This method proved so successful that in the early nineteenth century Cape Cod became the salt production capital of the country and Cape Cod and the Islands became inundated with salt works with over one thousand working windmills, particularly on and near the shoreline of Nantucket Sound. Certainly the historic view from many of these historic properties included nearby windmills, far more visible than distant offshore wind turbines would be.  [Return back]