This old barn is located on the Irvin Nature Preserve, part of the Triangle Land Conservancy in Chapel Hill NC. It's a mix of forest and farmland, and home to a cool outside school called Learning Outside. My wife is friends with one of the teachers there, and I drew this while visiting.
Two drawings of the houses of my mom's friends, done as Christmas presents for them.
The Sarah P. Duke Gardens are on the grounds of Duke University in Durham, NC. It was the brainchild of Dr. Frederic M. Hanes, an original faculty member of Duke Medical School. A botanical enthusiast, Dr. Hanes passed a debris-filled ravine on the way to the school every day, and so persuaded Ms. Duke, who was the widow of one of the university's founders, to finance a public garden on the land. The gardens were built, but unfortunately heavy summer rains and floods ruined them. Sarah Duke had passed away, but Dr. Hanes was still around, so he convinced Sarah's daughter, Mary Duke Biddle, to bankroll a new garden on higher ground and name it in honor of her mother. The Sarah P. Duke Gardens were dedicated in April 1939. It was designed by Ellen Biddle Shipman, an early pioneer in American landscape design. It's one of the remaining examples of her work. It has since expanded to 5 miles of trails and walkways across 55 acres.
There's a roadside farmers market on Route 751 in Apex, NC called Jean's Neighborhood Market. There's a dozen or more antique cars, tractors, and farm equipment parked around it. I drew one of the tractors about two years ago, and on a recent trip did another. Both were made by Frick & Co. of Waynesboro, PA. The woman inside the store told me that it was from 1930, but a Google search shows advertisements for the same machine from the late 1870s.
I found this hulking old steam tractor on Highway 751 in Apex, NC, outside a roadside farmers market called Jean's Berry Patch. It had a dozen or more antique cars, tractors and farm equipment parked outside. I only had time to draw this one.
This was built by the Frick Co., based in Waynesboro, NC, sometime in the 1920s. To see a similar machine from this company, check out this video...
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Reference
Farm Collector has several articles on the Frick Company and its products. Here's one
I saw this derelict tractor on the same lot as the Henry J car of my last post.
One of the things that makes researching these drawings so fun for me is that no matter what the subject is, there's usually someone out there who has done an obsessively detailed history of that thing. I've found mind-numblingly in-depth sites on New York streetlamps, 19th-century wood stove manufacturers, early-20th-century hat manufacturers, 19th century gambling kings, and everything else. You never know what rabbit hole you're going to find.
For example, this tractor came from Long Manufacturing, based in Tarboro, N.C., which was established in 1948. It's a model 550, built in the 1970s. During this period, Long outsourced manufacture of its tractors to Universal Tractor Barsov of Romania.
The history of the Long Manufacturing Company is not that interesting, but nonetheless has inspired some guy to post a FIVE part history of the firm and its tractors, providing not just the information above, but also such fascinating details as:
"The hydraulic system of the 550 used the same size of pump as the smaller tractors, and resulted in a lift of 2660 lbs, the same as the smaller units. Owing to its larger size and weight, power steering was standard equipment on the 550. Also steering related, the front axle was the same basic telescopic unit as used on the 350 & 445 tractors, but, due to different front wheels, resulted in a front track adjustment of 52 to 79 inches in 8 increments, on 7.50X16 tires. Rear adjustment was the same 47 1/4 tp 74."
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REFERENCE:
Super detailed history of Long tractors at Import Tractor Parts
I was in North Carolina for a bit this summer, and came across a warehouse with some old abandoned vehicles rusting away outside. This guy is the remnants of a 1951 Henry J.
The Henry J was produced by the Kaiser-Frazer Corporation between 1950 and 1954. It was intended as a low-budget entry into the small car market, meant to appeal to less affluent consumers. To keep the price low, the car was designed to be extremely bare-bones, lacking a glove compartment, armrests, sun visors, and even a rear trunk lid! (Owners accessed the trunk by folding down the rear seat.)
When the prototype was introduced, a contest was held to name the car. The winner was "The Henry J," which was an amazing co-incidence given that the Chairman of Kaiser-Frazer was Henry J Kaiser. While largely forgotten today, Kaiser was once one of the most popular men in America. He was known as the "Father of Modern Shipbuilding," and was responsible for mass-producing Liberty Ships, cargo ships that supplied the war effort in the Second World War. The Kaiser Shipyards could complete a ship in four days. After the war, a poll ranked him as the foremost civilian war-hero, crediting him with having "done more to help the president win the war than any other civilian." He was a contender for Roosevelt's second Vice President, and was so popular that they made a comic book of his life! He was also the "Kaiser" in "Kaiser Permanente."
The Henry J was not one of Kaiser's successes, however. The car did not catch on with the public, and production far exceeded demand. By 1953, production of the cars had halted. Some went on to have a second life as hot rods, as seen here. Their lightweight bodies combined with a muscular engine makes them super-speedy.
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REFERENCES
Kaiser Permanente - Our History: Henry J Kaiser: America's No. 1 Civilian Hero
