Pitchfork
About this video
Video courtesy of the Eastern North Carolina Digital Library.
- Provider
- Eastern North Carolina Digital Library, East Carolina University
- Date created
- Unknown
- Duration
- 0:28
- File
- Flash Video
- License
- This video copyright ©2006. All Rights Reserved
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Learn more
- Search LEARN NC for colonial, farming, history, pitchforks, and tools.
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Video showing construction of a pitchfork or hayfork and describing its use in early farming.
Transcript
Since a farmer could not go out to the store every time he needed a tool, many of the tools on the farm were hand-made and were used in multiple ways. A two-pronged pitchfork was one of these tools. Made by the blacksmith farmer, a pitchfork like this one had two metal tines that were secured to a long wooden stick, often with wire. The fork was used to pitch hay on the farm, and was also used in the corn-shelling process to collect the corncobs.
