March 29, 1988 Nivison Grain Cradle Factory’s New Home

As noted earlier this year, sometimes the exact date for an event is unknown. In this case the best we have is “During the last week of March…” so this author chose to use the 29^th.

Steve Proctor in his April 13, 1988 Interlaken Review article describes the process of moving the building.

During the last week of March, after unloading a huge stack of old planks and beams at the site, a flatbed truck hauled in the skeleton of a small, two-story barn and set it on an existing concrete foundation.”

Richard “Buster” Chesley and assistant Rod Porter, the two Interlaken carpenters now rebuilding the barn, spent the last three weeks dismantling the structure at its original site on Route 89 in Covert. The two had never undertaken such a project and therefore had numbered each plank with red ink while taking apart the barn so they could more easily reassemble it correctly when they got downtown.

On Wednesday, they spent all day nailing down roof planks and using a vice to realign the beams. The pile of nearby lumber, now relaxing after holding the same pose for 160 years, was getting ready to reassume the position.

“You kind of wonder what you’re going to find when you step into a job like this,” said Chesley. “But this really hasn’t been too bad.”

He adds that the most difficult part so far has been removing the pins which held together the beams. When the barn had been constructed, pins made of green timber were hammered into the joint; when the pins aged, they became swollen and thus strongly bonded together the joints. Chesley and Porter have had to electrically drill out many of these pegs.

Most of the old barn was saved, said Chesley. However three of the outside walls had deteriorated over the years and they would be replaced by hemlock planks. After a few years these new boards should weather and blend in with the old timber.

Rod Porter cutting one of the replacement planks. Interlaken Review April 13, 1988
Interlaken Historical Society Community Photo collection

Nivison Grain Cradle Factory building on Route 89
Interlaken Historical Society photo #1800

While on the building site, Mr. Proctor also talked with Maurice Patterson, President of the Historical Society, about the history of the building. Pat told him, “The barn had been built on Route 89 about 1850 or 1855. It first appears on the record books during the census of 1860 when it is listed as being owned by James Nivison. A subsequent newspaper advertisement in 1863 states that grain cradles were being made on the property by Nivison. An 1876 map of Seneca County outlines the Nivison property and calls it a grain cradle manufacturer.”

In the 1890s, John Hunt purchased the property and used it for a variety of purposes over the years. John’s grandson, Howard Hunt donated the building to the Historical Society.

The Historical Society then had the task of fundraising and community coordination to move the Nivison Grain Cradle factory to the former Goodman Hotel lot at the corner of Main Street and Railroad Ave. The use of this parcel was accomplished through the efforts of several people working with county and state officials when the hotel property was taken over by the county for back taxes.

By now you may be asking, “What is a grain cradle?” Grain cradles are big, one-man scythes with attached wooden fingers below the blade which keep the cut stalks in a bundle for later gathering; the reaper sweeps his scythe through the grain and deposits the bundle alongside his cutting path.

Interlaken Historical Society Farmers' Museum, Main Street
Author's collection

For more background, check back on June 23^rd for the story and pictures of the day the Goodman Hotel was torn down. For more on the Grain Cradle Museum, see the story of its history in Covert Memories 1950 – 2015.

Dewitt’s Diary March 29, 1941, 1942, 1943

Saturday, March 29, 1941 Minor Brokaw sale today of farm tools.

Sunday, March 29, 1942 Sap not running. Dug up some trees which I transplanted north of barn. Dug them on old Luckern place.

Monday, March 29, 1943 Dry and north wind. Temperature 20 this morning. Working in the woods today. Shot a red-tailed hawk near where I was working in the woods.