Several months ago, we were surprised to find this old, rusty, muddy pitchfork leaning against the Durant-Peterson House Museum. Attached to it was a note:
“Hi – My son found this pitchfork in Ferson Creek on the bank of the creek. I think it belonged to this farm. Not certain if you want it.” - W. Marks.
Well, of course we wanted it!
Ferson Creek flows through LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve which previously was farm and pastureland owned by the Durant, then Peterson, and finally Sheldon families. We were unable to confirm if it belonged to any of these families though, undoubtedly, they would have owned pitchforks.
Since we had no story to go with the pitchfork, we decided to ask our Junior Docent volunteers, who are between 10- and 17-years-old, to make up one! Using their historical knowledge of the Durant and Peterson families and their imagination, here are excerpts from some of their stories:
“I think they used this as some sort of old hoe for making & planting crops. They would scrape the soil so they could plant seeds…. Maybe someone left it there & forgot all about it.”
“One summer in 1860, the Durant boys, William and Charles… took the [pitchfork] to the Fox River to go fishing. They weren’t able to catch any fish on their first day, but they noticed it was easier to use the pitchfork to catch crayfish by Ferson Creek…. They kept their pitchfork inside of an old tree by the river. One summer evening of 1866, there was a big storm that flooded the Fox River and surrounding areas. After the water levels went down… they couldn’t find their old pitchfork inside their hiding spot at the old tree trunk because the river bank changed since the storm and flood…. Eventually the boys grew up and the pitchfork remained buried in the mud for all these years until it was found in the year 2024.”
““I think the pitchfork was used for hay for the horses. I think it was left by the creek because they might have try (sic) to clean it.”
“During the late 1800s, when the Petersons were working for the Durants… Mr. Peterson was on his way to the Durant house to work for Mr. Durant for the day, when he saw a loose horse out of the stable. Mr. Peterson immediately dropped the pitchfork he was carrying…. He chased the horse up and down and all around the farm. Eventually Charles and William Durant came out after hearing the ruckus and came to help Mr. Peterson catch the loose horse… The pitchfork [was] forgotten about in all the chaos. There was a mighty storm that night. The fast blowing wind picked up the pitchfork and flew it across the farm. Soon, the heavy rainfall led to flooding. The floods washed through the farm and carried the pitchfork all the way to the banks of Ferson Creek.”
What story can you imagine about how this old pitchfork was lost in a bank of Ferson Creek?
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