THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 3, 1996 TAG: 9603030060
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: EDENTON LENGTH: Long : 127 lines
It's planting time on an unusual 80-acre Chowan County horse farm, and next October - when the frost is on the pumpkin and the corn is in the shock - the harvest will provide quite a sight for modern eyes.
Nowhere will there be any late-model, self-propelled combines or giant tractors - complete with stereo and air conditioning - pulling brand-new harvesting machinery.
Instead, alfalfa-fueled horses and hay-munching mules will do the work while a bunch of remarkable kids with physical disabilities cheer them on. And what's more, some of the equipment the mules and horses pull will be more than a century old and headed for a new museum in Chowan County.
``For the harvest we'll use all of the old-timey, horse-drawn or steam-operated farm machinery we can put back in working order by Oct. 19,'' said Robert Harrell, who operates the Albemarle Recreation Center horse farm on Route 32 north of Edenton near Valhalla.
``October 19 is the day we hope to have our old-time agriculture equipment museum open for business,'' Harrell said.
The idea for the museum grew out of the recreation center's need for an additional source of income to keep it properly equipped.
So when Harrell came up with the idea for a farm implement museum to attract tourists, who would pay a nominal fee, the directors of the tax-exempt Albemarle Recreation Center told him to put the plan in motion.
Harrell and the recreation center are best known for horseback riding programs developed as a special therapy for children and adults with varying degrees of mental or physical disability.
Several years ago Harrell, a retired Baptist minister and greenhouse operator, discovered that his 13-year-old granddaughter, Ashlee, who has Down syndrome, benefited from horseback riding.
``Ashlee and her four-legged animal friend seem to understand each other, and now she rides all over the place,'' Harrell said.
By 1992, Harrell had developed a riding program for 18 other young people with disabilities. The kids loved the program, Harrell said, and now he has about 15 volunteers who act as mentors for the riders.
During the winter school months, the horsemanship program is open to just children, but during the summer months adults with disabilities also are admitted.
Altogether, about 100 students attend the therapeutic riding classes.
``Each child gets a little box with the necessary horse-grooming tools; curry-combs, hoof-picks to clean out a mudded-up shoe - that sort of thing,'' Harrell said.
``If they're physically able to do so, the children are also taught how put on a bridle and a saddle. And we try to keep them with the same animal whenever they come out to ride.''
The children use Western saddles that have a traditional horn in front for grabbing and a high cantle behind that prevents a kid from sliding back over the horse's rump.
``In all the years we've been operating, only two children have fallen while riding and both got up laughing and climbed back on,'' Harrell said.
``It's truly amazing how quickly the children develop skills and self-confidence. In the beginning, one of our volunteers rides with each child but when the volunteer says the young rider is ready to ride alone, it's a moment of joy for all of us.'' Harrell said.
How the collection of old-time farm implements came to be also is truly amazing.
Harrell, who was born on a family farm a few miles from the recreation center, let friends and neighbors know he was looking for old - really old - farm machinery to stock the museum.
Now antique hay-balers, sickle-bar mowers, peg-and-disc harrows and peanut-diggers are piled on the farm.
There is a vintage hay-baler powered with a mighty single-cylinder gas engine much older than the 71-year-old Harrell.
``Those were famous old horizontal farm engines that went, `Froom! Chugga-chug. Froom! Chugga-chug. Froom!' '' said Glenn Rogerson, a farmer who lives down the road.
``That big single cylinder fires, and then the flywheel keeps the baler running until it's time for another power stroke,'' Rogerson added, enjoying every ``Froom!.''
Rogerson is also a horseman and early on he volunteered to help Harrell with his horsemanship therapy program for the children.
Nearly all of the old machines have the long, wooden wagon tongues and swiveled crossbar that allows two horses or mules to be harnessed to the equipment.
Also, Harrell has his eye on an old stationary steam engine that was once a key piece of equipment at a Chowan County sawmill. Harrell wants to get the engine running again and put it on display.
Even with the donated farm equipment, ``the museum project is going to cost around $200,000,'' Harrell said, ``but we think the museum will attract enough paying visitors to bring in around $50,000 a year.''
Harrell's confidence in the future of the horsemanship therapy program prompted the Farm Home Administration to lend him the money to buy the 80-acre farm where the school is located.
An architect drew up plans for a modern red barn structure that will house the center's offices and the refurbished farm implements that will be on display.
Both Harrell and Rogerson are counting on the kindness of neighbors and farm machinery buffs to help him get the old equipment working.
``There're not many people still around who remember how those old machines worked,'' Harrell said. ``But we've been hearing from a lot of volunteers who are old enough and experienced enough to know what they're talking about.''
New ideas are flowing to Harrell from enthusiasts across the country.
Already he's planning an old-time farm show to coincide with the opening of the museum next fall.
``We think we ought to have an antique tractor pull; some kind of a parade of old farm vehicles, a cotton-picking contest, a corn-shelling contest, molasses-cooking and apple cider demonstrations and all kinds of old-time agricultural displays,'' Harrell said.
The original horsemanship therapy program worked so well for children with disabilities, that the program has been broadened to include ``at-risk'' students with antisocial tendencies.
The ``at-risk'' riders also seemed to respond to the therapy.
``One of our students who had been troubled in school with inattention and disciplinary problems improved so much that he got a scholarship,'' said Janie, Robert Harrell's wife of 47 years. ILLUSTRATION: DREW C. WILSON color photos/The Virginian-Pilot
Robert Harrell, operator of the Albemarle Recreation Center horse
farm, plans a farm equipment museum.
Glenn Rogerson, left, and Robert Harrell examine plans for the red
barn structure that will house the recreation center's offices and
the refurbished farm implements that will be on display at the
museum.
by CNB