BYGONES
Neat Stuff
Cranberry Scoop or Rake
Ruggles Nourse & Mason 1837-1849

Until you've loved an animal and been loved in return,
there's a place in your heart that you've never known!



I had no idea what this was when Donna brought it home.  I learned that this is a scoop or rake for harvesting cranberries from a flooded cranberry bog.

This one was made by J. O. Wilcox & Son of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, for sale by Ruggles, Norse & Mason of Boston, Massachusetts.  This farm supply company, most famous for its plows, used this name during the 1837-1849 time period.

From all appearances this is fully original with metal tines, metal splines to reinforce wood sides, octagonal white ash handle, and stenciled maker's marks.

I learned that the flowers of the cranberry look like cranes, hence the name "crane berry."

Cranberry Scoop

Cranberry Scoop

Cranberry Scoop

Cranberry Rake

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Images © J. W. Sallenger