Day Trips: Great contraptions that click, hiss, belch and roar

Instead of the Wright brothers, Henry Gatling of Hertford County may be the actual First in Flight guy: Witnesses say his crank-powered Gatling Flyer flew once in 1873 and crashed; the remnants were destroyed in a barn fire. (What’s said to be a replica of it is on display at the Agriculture and Transportation Museum in Murfreesboro.)

Gatling, who said he got his idea from watching turkey buzzards fly, was a small-town tinker-engineer. That’s not surprising: America’s age of inventions started with farm equipment.

See for yourself this weekend, an hour from Charlotte in southeastern Davidson County.

Brown Loflin and Howard Latham both have a tinker-engineer gene that led them to create the Denton Farm Park, a site devoted to antique farm machinery, and the Southeast Old Threshers’ Reunion, a festival that celebrates it. Denton Farm Park also holds 16 restored buildings, including a general store, grist mill, antique automobile repair shop and blacksmith shop. (It’s called Myers Garage – and was the Davidson County repair shop owned and operated by “Chocolate” Myers, the son of Bobby Myers, a NASCAR legend of the 1950s.)

The Reunion, which started Tuesday and runs through Saturday, is a rare chance to see how old-school motorized farm machinery worked. The large horse-, steam- or gas-powered machinery that plowed fields and planted and harvested crops is largely gone, but Denton Farm Park has well more than 1,000 pieces of antique farm machinery – harvesters, tractors, balers and more.

Most of it will be up and running during the Reunion.

The event has been going on for 45 years, according to Loflin’s wife, Ruby. It started as a fundraising fly-in – Brown Liflin co-owned an airplane and had a landing strip there. “Some other men brought planes in and it grew and grew,” she said. “We decided to add equipment, like for threshing wheat, and people started bringing in gasoline engines and tractors.”

The aviation aspect ended in the 1980s, but the farm machinery collection grew, she said. “We have bought a lot of it; and we moved and restored a lot of buildings. And people bring in their restorations.”

They also added a full-size working steam locomotive that has six cars and a caboose. Oh, and a petting zoo.

“He does the machinery,” she said. “I clean the buildings and work at the office. Our son and daughter work here and we have other employees, too.”

Among the items is a cotton compress Brown Loflin acquired in Charlotte, disassembled, brought to the farm and reconstructed.

For Ruby Loflin, the “wow” factor machines are a steam-powered crane and a steam shovel.

Besides displays and demonstrations that involve antique ag equipment, or other rural contraptions like a rock crusher or sawmill, the Southeast Old Threshers’ Reunion is known for entertainment that complements the old-time vibe: The Attractions band (beach music) plays at 3 and 8 p.m. Friday, and Donna Hughes (bluegrass) takes the stage at 2 and 7 p.m. Friday. “Mayberry Tribute Day” is Saturday, featuring re-enactors portraying “Andy Griffith Show” regulars, and the Burrows Brothers Bluegrass Band playing at 2 and 7 p.m.

Other events on Independence Day include a coon jump (a horse-jumping event) at 4 p.m., a horse pull at 5 and fireworks at 9.

This story was originally published June 25, 2015 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Day Trips: Great contraptions that click, hiss, belch and roar."