Nice article on fanning mills for people like me who had no idea what they were:
http://www.crookedlakereview.com/articles/101_135/126winter2003/126palmer3.html
PeLady
Thanks Pelady, I enjoyed that cited article, ……. especially this statement, to wit:
“Before the introduction of threshing machines, grain was removed from the stalk heads by trampling or flailing. This operation was done usually on a wooden floor in a barn.”
That triggered the recall of an unanswered “curiosity” question that I have harbored for 45+ years and provided an answer to said.
It was in the mid-1970’s that I and 3 others (wife, brother and his wife) were afforded the opportunity of a “private tour” of
Kamp Kill Kare near Raquette Lake in the Adirondacks, upstate NY. That was when it belonged to the Garvin heirs and nothing had been moved or changed since Mrs. Garvin had died.
Anyway, when we entered the “kamp” we had to drive thru the “
barn complex portal” which is pictured below. Anyway, anyway, when we were “touring” the barn complex, the loft or 2nd floor above the “portal” was just a large square room
with a perfectly smooth wood floor that resembled a finely polished table top.
Now know the purpose of that loft.
And ps, the stones you see in the picture are just a “veneer” covering up the wood construction.
To wit:
“After the three-mile drive in, we arrived at the tower gate shown above. Little did I know that the gable window of my memory was but a small detail of a barn complex that enclosed a large yard. The cow barn formed a leg, and the horse barn, without its roof due to a fire, another, and the third leg was the service wing.” Source: https://www.aarch.org/got-lake-kora/