Beaver Den News
Beaver Den
News
March 2008
(click here for previous Beaver Den News entries)
HOGSHEAD
The hogshead in the photo above is one Jim has just finished for the Pamplin Historical Park and The National Museum of Civil War at Petersburg, VA This hogshead will be used in a display at the museum.
A hogshead actually refers to the size of a barrel. There were standard measures for different commodities. The hogshead above is 48" tall and 30" at the head. This is the size required for a tobacco hogshead. These barrels were used in the colonial era to store and transport tobacco. Hogsheads were also used for alcoholic beverages. A hogshead of wine contained 63 gallons. A hogshead of beer contained 54 gallons. Sugar and molasses were also stored in hogsheads in the South. We have asked museum curators and others historians how the hogshead barrel got it's name. If you have any information on how the hogshead got it's name please call us at 308-364-2528 or email us at beaverbuckets@beaverbuckets.com.
Country Extra magazine has an article on Jim and his coopering business in the January 2008 issue.
Copyright 2008 by Beaver Buckets all rights reserved.