After decades gathering dust in the New Woodstock Town Highway Garage, an antique horse-drawn snow scoop, once used to remove snow from the streets and sidewalks of Cazenovia, has been donated to the Madison County Historical Society.
The Cazenovia Town Board unanimously approved the donation during its April 13 regular monthly board meeting to preserve and share the historical item for and with county residents.
“We didn’t want to see something like that get damaged, and we thought it should go to somewhere people could appreciate it,” said Tim Hunt, town highway superintendent.
Hunt said highway department crew members recently were cleaning out the New Woodstock highway garage where “a lot of old stuff has been stored through the years,” when they found the snow scoop.
“We kind of knew it was there, but didn’t really know what it was,” he said. “Some of the guys that have been here the longest … said it used to be kept in the Riverside Drive highway garage. When they tore that down, about 11 years ago, the scoop got moved to New Woodstock.”
The scoop looks like what it is — a scoop made of wood with two harness handles on either side to connect to a horse and two guide handles off the back for the person driving the contraption. Hunt said he was told the scoop was used to clear snow drifts, while behind the scoop would be a large wheel that was used to pack down the snow so sleighs could travel without sinking in.
Hunt said he has “no idea” how old the snow scoop is because there are no markings of any kind on it, but the town is hoping that employees at the county historical society will be able to determine more facts about it.
“We are excited to have this be part of our collection,” said Sydney Loftus, executive director of the Madison County Historical Society. “It is sort of a natural fit for us to be repository for this item. We hope to display it in our agriculutre barn.”
Loftus said she has not seen the scoop in person, only in photographs, but that it appears to be in fair to good condition.
“We don’t have one of these in our collections and we’re interested in doing background research on it,” she said.
Loftus said there are no set plans yet for when the snow scoop will be on public display at the historical society, but when it is they will let the public know through their website and newsletter.
The Madison County Historical Society is located at 435 Main St., Oneida, and is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Jason Emerson is editor of the Cazenovia Republican. He can be reached at [email protected].
