Potluck, a Flood, and Antique Farm Tools

Addie invited me to go to Waterbury Center for a talk sponsored by the Vermont Humanities Council and the Waterbury Historical Society. The topic was about farming inventions in Vermont, and the event included a potluck dinner. It was a perfect summer evening for a drive, so, “Why not, let’s go.”

The meeting was held in an 1830’s church. As we drove up, I saw the potluck was happening on the front lawn. 

I placed my three bean salad next to two other bean salads, then went to find a table. We happened to sit with two veterans of World War II.They were from Waterbury Center, grew up in Waterbury Center, graduated from the same school in Waterbury Center, and are still living there.

One of the veterans told us how his family of six survived the Vermont Flood of 1927! Well, I’ve heard of this flood, and seen pictures of the flood, but never spoke with anyone who actually experienced it. He recalled how he and his brother were stacking wood when the waters were rising. His Dad waited until the last minute before evacuating the family. He said, "we left with nothing more than the clothes on our backs.” They ended up losing their home and all their possessions to the flood.  From then on, they moved from place to place for somewhere to live.

After our potluck meal and dessert of ice cream and brownies (three different kinds), it was time for the talk. We slowly made our way inside to the sanctuary of the church. 

I noticed this sign. The congregation is apparently very small, but still active.

Paul Wood, our speaker for the evening, has collected some 3,000 antique farm tools. He focused on inventions especially from the 19^th century.

Individual farmers came up with inventions to make dairy and maple sugaring work more efficient. If the new tools worked, they were shared with neighbors, and if the tools were really good, they were often patented and produced for use throughout the U.S. and even  the world. 

Paul Wood

I learned a lot about how butter was processed years ago. We saw different devices for separating the cream from the milk, churning the cream into butter, pressing (printing) the butter, and cutting butter into blocks for wrapping. Here Addie is examining a cream separator. This was really heavy.

Here's a butter press and paper used for wrapping.

The product needed to be chilled and the equipment carefully cleaned after each use to keep bacteria count down. Scales of different sizes - many more inventions - were needed for each step of the process for buying/selling the milk, cream, butter. 

Here Mr. Wood was telling us about the process of pressing cheese.

I was impressed how labor intensive these jobs were for farmers and anyone working in large scale dairy production.

This was an evening of history from beginning to end - meeting at an historic church, talking with the World War II vets, and learning about old-time farming methods and tools.

Thank you, Addie, for recommending this event!