One of the things Steve and I have really loved about buying Ken and Vernie’s house is the antique and vintage items they left behind.
We have plenty of things that are current and modern but there is something to be said for those household items that were made over a century ago and are still beautiful and intriguing.
Today, Steve and I wanted to share a few of those items with you. Since I’m a little sketchy on the details, Steve graciously agreed to be your tour guide for the day. Take it away, Steve!
is the milking stool. It was likely built by my grandpa, George Smith, and used by all the members of the family through the 1920s and into the 1940s on the Smith family dairy farm. (When Grandpa Smith was in the 8th grade, his dad died. He quit school and took over running the farm which included milking plenty of cows..)
Next is the copper tea kettle sitting on the milking stool. It dates from 1850-1870 and was purchased by my parents in southern England in the early sixties.
The wooden plank with the meat grinder mounted on it was from the Smith farm. The plank was placed between two chairs and a person would sit on the plank and put the pork into the fluted top while turning the crank. The ground sausage would go into a bowl set below. My dad remembered cranking it for hours after a hog was slaughtered on the farm.
The camera belonged to my Grandma Hazel (Henderson) Smith. She had a college education and taught in a one-room school with 8 grades of students in one room.
At the end of the plank is an iron that was heated on a wood-burning cook stove on the Smith farm. The still-working pocket watch belonged to Grandpa Smith. To the right is a small iron hammer leaning against the wall with the words, “Buy Arm and Hammer Baking Soda” cast into the handle. My guess is that it was a promotional item placed in a large box of soda. Not sure of the age.
My dad built this wooden (mahogany or cherry) napkin holder in the 1940s when he was in his early teens.
Fast forward to some time in early 1964. Seated in the 1961 MG Midget are my mother and father, my brother Dana in my dad’s lap and yours truly seated in the bank. This tiny blue car began my love affair with convertibles.
Mounted to the wall is a bed warmer dating from 1850 to 1870. Hot coals would be placed in the pan and once the lid was closed it would be put between the sheets of a bed and moved back and forth, warming the bed just before the home-owner jumped in. (Most bedrooms were without heat.)
The typewriter is an Underwood dating from around 1940. Becky saw it in a Goodwill for $60 and didn’t buy it because “it was too much.” After she came home and told me about it, I called the thrift store and had them hold it for me until I could buy it that afternoon. I snuck it into the house and hid in the attic until Christmas. She was flabbergasted when she saw what that mysterious, heavy box contained.
The wooden cabinet below the typewriter is from the Smith farm and contains a sewing machine. It belonged to my great grandma Smith and is a real work of art. The sewing machine was purchased from Sears and Roebook and it is FOOT-POWERED. (I’ll withhold comment about the likely size of Great Grandma Smith’s calves!)
Some of the accessories are still with the machine.
The sewing machine unfolds from inside the cabinet; amazing engineering!
Here is a motley crew of church hymnals from various denominations. We love books old and new.
The electric Seth-Thomas mantle clock dates from the 1940s and originally had real chimes. The chimes worked up until the late 70s when they were replaced with an electronic chime set.
Finally, this ornate mirror was owned by my great-grandma Dight, my mom’s grandma. I’m not sure of the age.
for taking us on the tour and thanks to you wonderful readers for taking a peek into the past and appreciating with us the craftsmanship and sentiment contained in all those old wonderful pieces.
What about you?
Do you remember particular items your parents or grandparents had that were interesting or unusual?
Do you own any items that are fascinating to your own kids or grandkids?
Did you ever use a milking stool or a meat grinder?
If you had an unlimited budget, would you decorate with all old things, or all new things? Or are you eclectic and enjoy mixing old and the new?
How fun! So many treasures! That sewing machine and cabinet are the absolute best! I wish I could own something so beautiful and awesome! 💜
Lizz,
Yes, that sewing machine is really a work of art and a feat of engineering the way it folds out the way it does. We are thankful that it has lasted so well through the years and ended up in our living room!
I thoroughly enjoyed this blog edition that you and Steve provided! Knowing the history of these items made the tour much more interesting. I especially enjoyed seeing Ken’s MG Midget! What a great and interesting dad he was. Lucy’s mom had a “foot pedal” Singer sewing machine, which she used until she could not see well enough to sew anymore.
Fred and Lucy,
You don’t see many of those foot pedal machines anymore; the women who used them were certainly industrious and probably very strong!
Glad you enjoyed the antique tour!
What cool family treasures! I remember my Mama’s aunt having a sewing machine that was foot powered also. I’m more of a decorate with modern things except for a few items that hold a lot of personal meaning. I hope your week has gone well and look forward to your new entry Monday.
Sue Ellen,
I’m sure those women of the past who used foot-powered sewing machines would be absolutely astonished by the sewing machines today. So many changes over the years!
I love this! I have so many family heirlooms from grandparents, great uncles, parents. I have the meat grinder (learned to use it in the 60s), a mantel clock, other clocks with pendulums you need to wind up, and more like the usable rocking chair that is at least 100 years old. So blessed! I choose to integrate old and new. Love antiques and their family histories!
Guerrina,
It sounds like you have many treasures and better yet, you appreciate the treasures you have! I love integrating old and new, too.
I have never used a milking stool. I seem to remember using a meat grinder in my younger years but forget why we used it.
I have my grandparents’ cedar bedroom furniture in my master bedroom. They have been out of their house since 1984, not sure how long they had it before that. I would say it’s at least 40 years old. I will have to say cedar furniture when it gets wet is not the greatest smell. About 30 years ago, I lived in a duplex in Bolivar, MO. One cold winter day, the outside faucet on the other side froze and burst, flooding my side. The bottom of the bed legs got wet. I couldn’t figure out what was smelling until my mom came by one time and told me that’s what it was. My grandmother hand pieced and quilted a quilt for my college graduation, that was 46 years ago. I have a cedar chest that my great aunt bought me before she passed away, think I was 12 when she passed away so it’s 55+ years old.
If I were decorating a house, I would probably go with newer style things though. I’ve often thought of replacing my bedroom set but haven’t done it yet.
Phyllis,
Who knew that something that smells as wonderful as cedar doesn’t smell quite as nice when it gets wet. I bet you were relieved your mom told you what was going on so you could stop wondering where the smell was coming from.
Sounds like you have some very special treasures in your life that have been gathered through the years.
Fantastic pictures. Love antiques but don’t have very many. The clock, oh, yes, we had one just like it when I was a little girl. So glad you have kept these to cherish and “remember when . . .” Thanks so much for sharing.
Sharyn,
Those clocks bring back a lot of memories for a lot of people; definitely something that evokes yesteryear.
What great photos and stories!
We have a few “antique” things in our house, but most of our things (other than Mike’s antique cameras) are new. Or “new-ish.”
We have a meat grinder and last used it a few years ago when Mike went deer hunting — we processed the deer ourselves.
Stefanie,
As I was getting this post together it occurred to me that there may be readers who have used a meat grinder in more recent years–and here you pop up with your comment!
I love that Mike has antique cameras. So cool!
(This is from Ruth Rehberg; she couldn’t get it to show up on the blog so I posted it for her. –Becky)
Wow! Did not realize you all had so many old things in the house!! (besides Steve of course..lol)
They are all very nice and such interesting backgrounds on the items. A very good tour indeed!
A good thing Steve remembers all those stories to pass on to Nathan.
Thanks for sharing family history–with actual evidence to back it up!!
Ruth
Ruth,
Yes, Steve is one of the oldest items in the house. 🙂 And I love that each item has a story to it. That’s what makes it extra, extra special.
I love looking at old heirlooms for sure. So fun to see (and learn about) all the old things! I don’t have too many of them but I do have old hurricane lamps from both my parents and my husband’s parents. We have my FIL’s mother’s china but no one is going to want that anymore – no one uses china 🙁 And I have an antique “doll” that is wearing a wedding dress made out of my mother’s wedding dress!
I would probably mix old and new if budget was no problem!
Thanks for the tour, Steve!!
Suzanne,
A doll wearing a wedding dress made out of your mother’s wedding dress? How cool is that? I’ve never heard of that but absolutely love the idea!
I haven’t thought about a hurricane lamp in a long time; glad you mentioned it. I remember having those as a kid and how fun it was to light the wick.
Love this! I work for the company that makes Arm and Hammer. Its amazing to see this hammer. I shared with my Marketing contact and she loved this and point out it says ONLY buy A&H. Those little boxes of baking soda are still our core business.
Colleen,
How cool that you work for the Arm and Hammer company and that you shared the photo with your Marketing person. I had never even noticed those words until Steve pointed them out to me this week. Love baking soda for all sorts of purposes. I am a faithful buyer of your little boxes!
I’ve always loved old things so it was a treat to see some of yours, Steve! I’ve seen most of those pieces when we have visited, but it was so fun to see them all at once and read about their history and uses. Such treasures!
I do like a mixture of new and old when it comes to decor. We don’t have any antique pieces, but I’d sure love to have some. However, they usually they require lots of money or lots of refurbishing so I’m content to just look through antique stores or enjoy other people’s treasures. Thanks for sharing yours today so I could get my vintage treasure fix! 🙂
Love, Deb
Deb,
Steve knows so much about each piece; it just made sense for him to do the tour.
It is VERY fun to look through antique stores especially knowing each piece has a story.
Your house always looks so nice–antiques or no antiques.
You have quite the array of antiques! Very interesting and I love to hear the old stories that go with them.
My dad has the ship’s log that his great great (?) grandfather kept when he sailed back and forth from England as a merchant. It’s a leather bound book about 3 inches thick and every transaction, barter and trade is handwritten. Fascinating!!
We have several antiques that were handed down to us from my husband’s side of the family and that will continue to be passed down.
I’m kind of over the old and prefer a more modern decorating style these days but we still have incorporated a couple of those old precious pieces into the scheme of things.
LeeAnne,
What a treasure having that ship log would be. I’d love to sit and read through all the entries. Absolutely fascinating and a true peek back into the old, old days!
You sound like us when it comes to decorating–mostly modern but still making a place for some of those pieces of the past.
Thank you for sharing these great old pieces! Aren’t sewing machine tables wonderful? I remember the one at my grandparents’ house where my grandma taught all 9 granddaughters how to sew at age 8. I am an engineer myself and feel like I have never designed anything as wonderful as the sewing tables of old.
My husband and I just received a wedding gift from my aunt, which we are treasuring already. It is the old microscope that my pharmacist grandfather used throughout his life. It is a beautiful brass machine that we are excited to polish up and keep for generations to come.
Robin,
Bless your grandma for taking the time to teach all the granddaughters to sew. Definitely a dying art.
And you’re right about the design of those old tables; absolutely genius the way they were designed to fold and unfold.
And that brass microscope is definitely a treasure, made even more so because a man you loved used it every day. Love it!
Love the memories that old items bring. Steve did a great job explaining them. Love the Seth Thomas Clock. I actually collect them and have 3 that chime, when running, and 3 small ones. My uncle said that they were a great clock and one was in the clock tower of the county courthouse where he lived.
I remember my grandma showing me things in her china hutch and I loved seeing them. I remember things my parents had and have many of them including a chiffarobe my dad made in high school (he graduated in 35!)
My husband’s kids really don’t want any of his heirlooms so not sure where they will end up. I didn’t have kids but my niece does what her grandma’s wedding china and goblets that probably came from a gas station give away. It is so sad that alot of modern kids don’t want the antiques.
I used a meat grinder often and am sorry I didn’t save my mom’s. Not sure where it ended up.
I would definately mix old and new. I like old wooden furniture, but would want modern cushioned furniture to sit on. I have an old mandolin (instrument not cutter) and while I can’t really play it, I love strumming it and smelling the aged wood.
Thank you for sharing!
I grew up on my family farm in western Nebraska. The meat grinder is very familiar, in fact I think my Mom still uses it (not as rusty as your picture). My Great Grandma’s sewing machine sits as a table in my Mom and Dad’s house. It is not a cabinet as yours, it is open with the cast iron legs, commonly seen. My Grandpa and Great Uncles while farmed in the summer, were fur traders in the winter months. So our barns are full of all the ‘things’ needed for fur prepping and trading.
Have a Blessed day!
Shannon,
I bet it is fun to rummage through the barns and see what all is out there; so much history and memories.
I’ve never met anyone who had family members who were fur traders! Sounds like something out of Little House on the Prairie.
Patti,
“Smelling aged wood.” What a great thing to say. Old wood has an aroma like no other and I love it!
I had to look up “chifforobe.” Such a cool sounding name for a piece of furniture. I think someone had mentioned that word in another comment awhile ago but I had to refresh my memory. Your dad was very talented to build one of those in High School!
I love that one of your clocks used to be in the clock tower of a county courthouse. So much history there!
I wasn’t clear in my writing. My uncle commented on the courthouse clock that it was a Seth Thomas and I then started collecting them. Oh, how I wish I had the clock from the county courthouse. There is still one in the county courthouse, I have smaller ones.
Patti,
I don’t think I was clear in my reading! 🙂 I also love seeing those old county courthouse clocks. Think of all the changes they have witnessed through the years from high up on their perch.