The Bush Farm Museum in Brookhaven, Long Island, is a unique collection of around 7,000 farm tools, curated by its 93-year-old founder, Ronald Bush. Bush, a former navy veteran and agriculture graduate, started collecting in the 1970s to preserve a fading way of life.
The museum, housed in a former dairy barn, features tools like a 1939 plough with sunflower-yellow wheels and a cast-iron seat. The collection includes cherry pitters, surge milkers, and even a dingle stock. Above it, a framed quote by the 19th-century social reformer Henry Ward Beecher serves as the museum’s unofficial charter: ‘A tool is but the extension of a man’s hand.’ But what kind of extension, and what for? Would it be a cherry pitter, a surge milker, a ratchet wrench? Or a grease gun, potato grader, cattle weaner, sausage stuffer, sugar devil – what about a dingle stock? Bush, a sly tour guide, is happy to demonstrate. These tools reflect evolving customs and technologies.
A Labor of Love
Bush’s passion for farming history stems from his childhood on his grandfather’s dairy farm. As farms in the region declined, Bush began acquiring tools, eventually purchasing a small parcel of land in Brookhaven to house his growing collection. The collection is organised by size, with smaller items in the hay loft and larger ones in the dairy barn and sheds.
The collection includes 2,000 wrenches, reflecting the lack of standardization before the early 1900s. Bush’s favorite pieces are a hand-carved grain scoop from the 18th century and a two-pronged hay fork grown from a sapling by an Amish farmer. The museum also holds chrome nameplates from dozens of tractors, some abandoned during the 1979 Iran oil embargo.
As rural life fades from memory, Bush’s mission has taken on greater urgency. He sees his collection as a way to preserve “our history” and the ingenuity of farmers who once crafted their own tools. His son, Jamie Bush, a Los Angeles architect, notes that “revelry and excess run in the family”, describing his father’s hobby as one that “got bigger than most.”
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This summer, the Bush family finalized a deal to transfer the collection and land to Suffolk County, ensuring the archive remains intact. The county said to Bush, “‘Don’t get any more stuff,’” Every now and then he’ll sell off a duplicate. Bush continues to lead two-hour tours, sharing his knowledge with visitors who often have “no idea” about the tools on display.
The Bush Farm Museum can be visited by appointment only. Ring 001 631 472 0530.
A Growing Collection and Public Interest
As Bush’s museum gained recognition, local families began contributing tools they couldn’t bring themselves to discard. The collection expanded, organized by size rather than date or origin. Smaller items found their place in the hay loft, while larger tools were displayed on the dairy barn floor and in additional sheds. Bush meticulously arranged the artifacts, hanging graters, pulleys, and other implements from the rafters and lining up wrenches in orderly rows.
A Family Legacy
In the 1970s, Bush began collecting tools, driven by a desire to save a piece of his family’s heritage and the fading farming culture of Long Island. His uncle, Abraham Katz, had owned one of the largest dairy farms in East Hampton, which closed in 1972. Bush, a navy veteran with an agriculture degree, witnessed the decline of farming in the region and decided to take action.
Preserving History
For Bush, the museum is more than a collection of tools; it’s a preservation of history and a celebration of human ingenuity. He highlights the creativity of farmers who, lacking access to hardware stores, crafted their own tools. The lack of standardization in wrench sizes until the early 1900s resulted in his impressive 2,000-piece collection.
