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Published: 9/2/2022 1:31:30 PM

Modified: 9/2/2022 1:31:20 PM

Getting the tractor running on a New England farm has always required an unofficialdegree in tinkering and oral history. After all, old persnickety engines dont come with online manuals.

Such is the case over at the Morrill Family Farm Museum at the HopkintonState Fair, which runs through Labor Day.

Doug Smith stores more than a dozen antique engines at the fairgrounds that he takes out of storage and gets running as part of the museum demonstration. Once theyre all started, they combine to make a soothing, rumbling rhythm from a bygone age.

We're usually tinkering on one oranother throughout the whole fair, Smith said.

Getting all the engines goingis a skill thatSmith likes to call farmer engineering.

Some of the oldest machines were made more than 100 years ago, likeafour-and-a-half horsepower engine that used to be connected to flat belts to drive different pieces of equipment to save time and effort on the farm.

The museum was started by David and Edwina Morrillof Penacook, who wanted to share and educate what farm life was like. For children at the fair, petting the animals is always a hit. Some like to watch the engines and ask questions.

It's kind of neat to see them look at it, Smith said. They like to see stuff going like the band sawover there.

Smiths father bought him an engine when he was a kid in 1978, which he saidgot him hooked. That same engineis on display as part of the exhibit.

One of the most interesting things we dothat draws attention typically with this one, well twistthe bells that will reverse the rotation, Smith said.People will look at it and say why do you twist the belts? And its to reverse the piece of equipment you're driving.

For more information on the museum and all the other things to see and do at the fair, go towww.hsfair.org.

Link:

'Farmer engineering' and other aspects of NH history on display at Hopkinton State Fair - Concord Monitor