Ward W. O'Hara Agricultural & Country Living Museum, special to The Citizen
Ward W. O’Hara was a founder of the Agricultural & Country Living Museum that bears his name, located at Emerson Park in Owasco.
Ward also wrote articles for The Citizen for a number of years, and was known as “The Storyteller.” Some of his most enduring articles are now being republished monthly.
The following article originally appeared in The Citizen on Sunday, April 16, 1995. (Editor's note:Aside from minor edits for style and grammar, the column has been reprinted as submitted.)
With the moderately heavy snow storm on April 5, 1995, comes a reminder that the calendar says spring is here.
The past winter, having been very mild, the use of sleighs would not have been necessary, but that was not the way it used to be.
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There was a time when everyone owning a horse and wagon had some kind of sleigh, and we believe that there is nearly every type of sleigh exhibited at Cayuga County’s Agricultural Museum. There is nearly every type of sleigh used, from racing cutter to a heavy set of bobsleighs.
Many people who have been around for more than a few years believe weather conditions have changed with less snow. They may be right, but the use of salt and frequent plowing also keeps the snow and ice off our roads.
Hard-packed snow that made sleighing on our roads such a necessary means of transportation in the days gone by has pretty much left us now, but there are plenty of conveyances left in the Cayuga County Ag Museum to remind us of our heritage in the sleighs used by our ancestors.
Racing cutter:Let’s start with the snazzy little skeleton racing sled pulled by some fast horse driven by a young sporting gentleman. Racing on ice covered lakes with sharp shod horses was a winter sport of renown. One account tells of a man in Union Springs driving his horse and cutter on the ice of Cayuga Lake to Ithaca, about 30 miles distant. He did say he didn’t care to repeat that feat. The racing cutter is in the ag museum.
Delivery sleigh: Another sleigh has single runners and a box 6 feet long. One seat leaves something like a pickup truck box behind it. Granddad called this type of sleigh a “pung” and used it to take cans of milk or cases of eggs to market. The pung is resting on a high bracket at the ag museum.
Swan cutter: For pure pleasure, the “swell-bodied” or “swan” type cutter on display is a study of grandeur. Probably Don and Dorris Doody do not remember that this graceful cutter in a disgraceful condition came from one of their farm barns in 1975. Never mind it never cost the county anything, but we can show you another one like it that cost another museum $1,000. From an antique dealer.
The pickle dish: The fourth cutter displayed is known as a “pickle dish” because the removable body does resemble that type of dish. This very same cutter took Ruth Shaw from King Ferry to teach school in Pine Hollow’s one-room seat of learning in the 19-teens. Pine Hollow was 10 miles east of her home in King Ferry. Ruth has left us now, but the school still stands and the cutter her husband drove to get her sits proudly on a shelf in the museum.
Bobsleigh haulers: A set of light bobsleighs with removal seats could be used for light hauling or with the seats installed, it could take the families to church on Sunday. Howard Tanner from Half Acre Road in the town of Aurelius claimed to have owned these at one time. Said he could tell they were his because one runner was bent when he got caught on the trolley track in Auburn. Howard has passed along, too.
An extra heavy set of bobsleighs at the ag museum were used to haul logs, and they have a braking system using a grouser (a form of brake) activated by a telescoping pole that can be locked out when not coming downhill.
Count all the horse-drawn sleights at the ag museum with the antique children’s sleds and an ancient six-man downhill bobsled, plus a set of removable runners for the four-wheeled side spring about, and you will find an amazing collection of sleighs to give you some cool thoughts this coming summer.
TheWard W. O'Hara Agricultural & Country Living Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day. For more information, call (315) 252-7644.
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