Hello readers! I’m Carlie, and I’m the Agricultural Exhibit Designer at the Backus-Page House Museum. Throughout the summer, I'll be sorting through various tools in the barn to get ready for the exhibit! Every Tuesday I’ll be sharing some of what I learned on our blog!

It's been a long day working in the fields. After hours of trekking through mud and dirt, you're walking up the walkway when you freeze. Your wife wouldn't be too happy if you walked through the clean house with your boots on, so you walk up to the metal beam protruding from the ground, and scrape off your boot.

The boot scraper would have been an essential item for any farming family. First, it was a quick and easy way from preventing a mess. Secondly, it would help eliminating a lot of fighting within a family, I'm sure the people cleaning the house would be irritated when the children and other family members ran through it with dirt on their feet.

While the boot scraper in our collection is located in the front hallway, in the 1850s it would sit outside the house. The base of the item would be underground, with just the second block and the metal coming out of the ground.

Although this wasn't the boot scraper that belonged to the Backus', it still would have been an essential item for their household. There are even some stories that Andrew Backus, the first homeowner of the house, would forget to scrape his boots before coming inside, leading to a very irritated Mary Jane. 

Do you or someone you know still use a boot scraper? Let us know in the comments below!

HERITAGE FARM SHOW

Demonstrations include threshing, historic agricultural displays, antique tractors & equipment, food, and music.

Website: backuspagehouse.ca

Date: 

Saturday, August 31, 2019 - 10:00 to Sunday, September 1, 2019 - 16:00

Location: 

Backus Page House

29424 Lakeview Line

Wallacetown, ON N0L 2M0