It took longer than expected but the Little Wagon that has thus far been relegated to the 2nd floor of Seth’s Homestead in Greeneville, TN has been restored.
Our craftsman, Canjoe John, had a dickens of a time getting it back together. He made special note to say that it isn’t ready for a small human to sit in it. It is instead restored as a museum piece that should hopefully be able to be added to the first-floor collection of items on display in Seth’s 1787 Homestead.
Next is a link to the original post from last May:
Canjoe took the wagon to his place to be able to use his workshop. It is still there at this moment and will shortly be making its way back to Greeneville, TN.
First, I need to acknowledge that I don’t have many good pictures of the wagon from before hand. I was overwhelmed on the day the Homestead opened to the public and didn’t think to take some pictures of it while I was there. As most know, I manage the Homestead remotely and there are very few times that I get to see it in person. So, a trip out there just to take a few pictures wasn’t in the cards. I stole the images I have from the Facebook live video I did that day.
In that video I focused on what repairs it needed and didn’t stop to reflect on the full image of the wagon in my haste.
Regardless, there is still good imagery available to help explain the 3 repairs. Let’s go through those now:
This is the back left wheel. It was completely destroyed. Many of the parts were on the inside of the wagon that day of the broadcast, but there was no way to explain it properly. I propped the wagon up on it’s one remaining attached spoke and went about the video. I’m still amazed it didn’t fall over during filming.
A couple of the spokes have been replaced and matched to resemble the originals. Try to figure out which ones they are.
The Yolk wasn’t functional, and it needed reinforcements before it could be reattached. The Yolk is what attaches the handle to the wagon.
No door was present in the parts of the wagon, so Canjoe crafted one that matched. It still stuns me that it can look just like the original having been crafted over a hundred years apart.
Here are some additional views for which there isn’t a before equivalent. Please enjoy them and the next time you are in Greeneville, make sure to drop by and see this masterpiece for yourself!
