Found this hanging from the rafters of an old barn. What is it and what was it used for?
Answer
A bucket yoke.
We had some great guesses for this one, including a hornets’ nest and an original DUI device (add mixed weights to either side and see if the person is sober enough to compensate). The real answer, though, as many of you guessed, is a bucket yoke. This hand-carved wooden yoke fit over a humans’ shoulders and was used to haul buckets full of sap, water, and milk, among other things.
Several readers contributed stories. One shared that his mother grew up on a 20-cow dairy farm and hauled water with a yoke to the barn every day. This lasted until the 1960s, when the neighbors, J.D. Salinger and his wife, gave them an interest-free loan for an artesian well. Another reader remembers visiting his grandparents in Tennessee who hauled all their water in buckets. The grandkids had great fun lugging water every morning (extra fun on laundry day), and Granny was more than happy to take two weeks off.
We had over 150 correct answers!
This week’s contest winner was David Armstrong of Glens Falls, NY.