National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

Farm gang
Historical Overview
The farm gang was supervised by a foreman who reported to Shears. The gang consisted
of approximately four teamsters and eight laborers who carried out the heavy labor of the farm
and park. The farm gang's work was all outdoors and seasonal, and many on the crew were laid
off in the late fall, brought on again for winter work, and laid off again until spring. In the
summer, water boys also worked on the farm gang carting water out to men working in the
fields. 325
The farm gang raked leaves, filled the ice house in winter, shoveled snow, transplanted
and maintained trees in the park, cut hay, and picked dandelions from the lawns. 326 The farm
men did general farm work including hand mowing and cultivating corn. During the winter, the
farm gang would cut wood and haul it to the wood shed in the farm complex. It was sawn by
machine and stacked. In the summer, on rainy days the farm gang would split wood underneath
the shelter of the shed and re-stack it. 327 Shears also kept the farm gang busy during bad weather
"in the manure pit," which they sincerely disliked, or in the chicken house, presumably at similar
work. 328
Seasonally, Shears' men installed and removed storm sash from the residences on the
estate. 329 Other seasonal work included unloading coal cars for the greenhouses, mansion,
Pavilion, and employee residences on the estate. 330 The horse teams spent the winter months
hauling firewood, hauling coal from the coal pocket at the Hyde Park rail station to the buildings
on the estate, and hauling ash out of the mansion and other buildings. Removing ash from the
mansion sometimes took as long as two days. Ash was collected in cans in the cellar, hoisted out
through the ash grates, and dumped in a wagon. The load was then hauled to the road by the
lower gatehouse and dumped near the river. Leaves were dumped there as well. 331
Also in winter, the estate roads were plowed by a team of four horses pulling a "vshaped"
wooden plow. Cap Newman recalled the horses would be "clean up to their belly" in
snow ahead of the plow. 332 Ice was harvested annually from Sherwood Pond when the ice was
twelve to fourteen inches thick. The horse teams would first plow the snow off the ice and then
groove the surface of the ice to mark out twenty-four-inch ice cakes. The grooves were made by
drawing a gauge horizontally then vertically over the ice. Men would then saw out a ten-foot
cake. A breaker was used to break off each cake, and it was hauled up to the icehouse, broken
into smaller cakes, and hoisted into the house. Salt hay that was purchased in bales was cut up
and packed around the ice. 333 Ice blocks were delivered daily to coolers in the dairy, mansion,
and employees' houses. 334
325
Henry Tompkins, typescript of taped interview, September 23, 1985, 1, Oral History Collection, ROVA
Archives.
326
Snell, "Preliminary Report," 59. Snell cites Soulis Newman, 1954.
327
Soulis Newman, 12.
328
Herbert Shears, April 1, 1904.
329
See for example, Herbert Shears, April 17, 1903.
330
See for example, Herbert Shears, April 18, 1903.
331
Soulis Newman, 16-17.
332
Soulis Newman, 18.
333
Soulis Newman, 18-20.
334
Soulis Newman, 19; Peggy Newman, 21.
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