1860's Machinery & Barn

You'll get to see the barn wall filled with items you would have found in the Funk Family horse barn in the days when horses and mules did the heavy field work.  You can try to guess what some of the tools were used for, and have fun with our tour guide talking about farming without tractors.

One of the highlights of our horse-drawn farming collection is the one-of-kind McCormick-Deering corn picker.  It's ground driven, and four horses were used to pull it through the field to harvest one row of corn at a time mechanically.  It has never been restored, so it's in original condition, and, believe it or not, it still works!

On the same tour, you will visit the original barn built in the 1860's, and you'll see what it was like in the early days.  At times, farm animals can even be found in the rustic barn.  Built from timber felled in Funks Grove, the barn stands tall and proud as a monument to the good old days when horses and mules worked the farm.