Item 26: Wine and Cotton Press,Tarboro, N.C.

Color image of a wine and cotton press in a grassy park. Printed on the reverse of the card: "This antique machine stands in Tarboro's Town Common, an aging witness to the days when Cotton was King." The Tarboro Cotton Press was originally a wine and cider press, but was converted to a cotton press about 1860. In 1938, it was moved to Tarboro's Town Common. The press is constructed of yellow pine. It has a large screw that is used to compress the cotton into a wooden form to produce the bale. The supporting frame has four upright posts with braces. There are two long booms. These booms or poles have been called "buzzard wings." Animal hitches were attached to the booms. Mules and oxen were used to rotate the screw. The overall height of the press is 22 ft. The octagonal roof was built over the press sometime after 1938 and was removed by 1976. Printed by Clayton's of Tarboro, N.C. ca. 1960. 13 x 8 cm.

Format: Postcard.