When Dr. Andy Swiger, Dean of the College of Agriculture
and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech and Fred Scott of
Bundoran Farm were serving together on the executive
committee of the board of the State Fair of Virginia,
Andy asked Fred for his advice and help with a nice
collection of horse-drawn equipment that had been given
to the College by Dr. & Mrs. Henry Buckardt of Leesburg.
Andy Swiger knew that the Bundoran horse teams traveled
around the state in parades
and on behalf of the Bowman Companies.
Two years later, with the massive help of the draft
horse and mule community in Virginia, The American Work
Horse Museum was formally opened at the Virginia Horse
Center in Lexington, VA, with Mrs. Buckardt in attendance,
along with a hundred or so draft horse and mule owners
and enthusiasts.
We were amused by the Dean's response to our request
for comments on our farm operations: Andy, a big football
fan, commented: "Though suffering the stigma of
being a UVA graduate, Fred Scott, in his later years,
has wisely chosen to be a staunch supporter and good
friend of that great university in the far west now
known as Virginia Tech........."
Then, catching himself: "No, no, you wouldn't want
that. Let's start all over again....
"Our College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and
I personally will be eternally grateful for the leadership
role he played in creating the at the Virginia Horse
Center. A truly extraordinary commitment of personal
time and resources."
(Reading the comments above, you can see why Andy is
the Dean while Fred is still worrying about the proper
use of the gerund, even though he's not really the worrying
type.)
It's a pretty terrific little museum, nothing else in
the country is quite like it: fully-functioning and
well-kept horse equipment, archival photographs of the
machines in use, and all located at the prominent upper
grandstand level of one of the major horse show facilities
in the country.
The American Work Horse Museum is presented by Virginia
Tech, as part of its educational mission. We think that
it's worth a visit, and admission is free!
We were glad to help, particularly when the nice notes
came in:
From the Virginia Horse Center: "...to acknowledge
your outstanding efforts with the museum," said
John Scott
From George Chocklatt "...the museum is very popular
and...is helping to perpetuate an important part of
our heritage."
Dr. Swiger adds: "What a marvelous contribution
you have made to history. Virginia Tech and I will always
be in the debt of the Wahoo [editor's note: a University
of Virginia graduate!] who bailed us out of a tight
spot in a most unselfish, effective, even glorious way"
How very nice! Those comments made all the work worthwhile;
and it was an honor to be involved.
Contact the or by phone at 540-463-2194,
or write to them at PO Box 1051, Lexington, VA 24450
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