Every year the town of Jupiter holds a Farmstead Days event a Riverbend Park where we’ve been riding. Brother said it if you like old mechanical devices, it’s a great way to do so, free. So we arranged to meet him and a couple of his friend over there in the early afternoon, and spent more than an hour wandering among old tractors and engines, some of them steam engines, dating back to the 19th century. Many were designed for specific jobs, like pumping oil from a derrick, squeezing sugar cane for syrup, running an old wringer washer. Almost all were actually running, which made it very interesting, with the sounds a cacophony of sputters and sparks, revs and bursts that sounded like a motorman’s symphony. Really fascinating. They also had a small petting zoo for the kids, with lambs and kid goats, bunnies and even a little black piglet, along with pony riders as well. Music was being played throughout the day at the pavilion by local artists and story tellers, and kids were getting free rides on a couple of the antique tractors, some so old they had metal wheels. There was an old Model T Ford “Dixie” edition that apparently was only sold in the south (made six inches wider than normal to avoid wagon ruts), and a portable blacksmith shop with all the tools, including a forge, that a blacksmith would need to build all of the magnificent machines. The highlight of the day, though, was the sawmill demonstration. Permanently on the site is an old sawmill powered by an old belt-driven motor. One younger man and two seasoned seniors (who look like they had been working the sawmill since the CCC days -the 30’s- when the sawmill was set up here) worked some raw logs through the machine, brilliantly turning them into a number of long boards, even finishing them with a smooth edge. Fascinating to watch! Well worth spending the time there, it was a very nice day.
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