Nederwaard Molen No. 2 is the most accessible of the open mills — built in 1738, restored, and furnished as the home of the miller, his wife and their twelve or so children who would have lived there. The kitchen, the box-beds, the looms and tools are arranged on three cramped wooden floors, with the grinding gears churning overhead.
The miller's family lived with the rhythm of the wind and the water. When the sails stopped they ate; when the wind picked up they worked. The ladders between floors are nearly vertical and the ceilings are low — modern visitors usually leave with a new respect for what was an entirely ordinary working-class job in the 18th century.