It didn't matter whether the corn was shucked in the field or in the barn, hand shelling was the method most used up to the 1950's...........The below video link depicts how corn was shelled with an antique corn sheller, belt driven by either a tractor or a hit and miss engine....this demo was performed by using a hit and miss engine.
Corn Shelling
Below is our library of living demonstrations performed at the Museum
During our Fall Harvest, a honey extraction was performed on site by Maybrook Honey who houses hives on our grounds. The below video link shows the demonstration
Honey Extraction
It is said that around the 1860s when farming machines were pulled by horse, farmers would boast about the strength of their horses. They would claim that their horse could tow large loads, such as a fully loaded hay cart or wagon. Farmers would challenge one another to contests to prove who had the strongest horse. A barn door was removed and laid flat on the ground, and the horse was then hitched to it, the farmer would then urge the horse to drag the barn door along the ground. One by one, people jumped on the door until the horse could no longer drag it; the horse pulling the most people the greatest distance was judged the strongest. This event, called horse pulling, is still carried out today with specially bred horses trained to have high strength and low stamina, rather than low strength and high stamina which is normally the case with racing horses. Instead of people, fixed weights on sleds are dragged as far as possible. While it is said that the term horsepower is derived from this event, in reality the term was coined by James Watt. It wasn't until 1929 that motorized vehicles were put to use in the first events..........for more information on the history of tractor pulling, please click here.
Tractor Pulls
Below are videos links to tractor pulls held on our grounds
