- Hi, I'm Matt.

- And I'm Nicole.

Today, we're heading out on a field trip to the Burden Iron Works Museum right here in Troy, New York.

- This hidden gem takes you straight back to the heart of the 19th century American Industrial Revolution.

- The museum is open to the public May through December, Wednesday through Friday, noon to 4:00, so stop on by.

- And we've been invited behind the scenes to explore some of the artifacts and innovations that make this place so special.

- And helped put Troy on the map.

- Let's go.

(lively music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music fades) (gentle upbeat music) - Oh my gosh, the Burden Iron Works.

- Hello.

- Wow.

- Hi.

- Hello.

- Welcome to Burden Iron Works Museum.

I'm Susan Ouellette.

I'm the director of the Burden Iron Works Museum.

Burden Iron Works really represents early industrial revolution that overtakes and really makes Troy into the city that it became.

At one point, it was the fourth wealthiest city in the country, and it was built on the industrial might of the region.

Henry Burden came here in 1829.

He was an inventor, an innovator, and he spent a lot of time thinking about how to make things more efficient, and faster and better.

His major inventions include the horseshoe machine.

(air whooshes) - Look at these.

- Wow.

- Henry Burden's machines produced all kinds of horseshoes, horseshoes for riding horses, for work horses, winter shoes, summer shoes, racing shoes.

- I didn't know there were so many shoes.

- And mule shoes.

- Mule shoes.

- So Henry Burden's horseshoes really are the foundation for a lot of the fortune.

(air whooshes) - Wow, wow.

Very cool.

- And in the day when Burden Iron Works existed, this is where they would've stored all of the patents, their business records, and so on.

Things that are much more fragile get stored in here.

These, for instance, are bound toy newspapers.

- Wow.

If somebody wanted to come look through them, could they?

Or is this a private collection?

- If someone wanted to come and look through them, they could.

We would have to make arrangements for it, but it's possible, yes.

- Very cool.

- We do have researchers who come to see our materials here.

(air whooshes) - Hey, whoa, there's farm equipment here.

- Wow.

- Rototillers?

- Rototillers, why is this here?

- Well, Troy was the center of rototiller production.

Mr.

Kelsey, the original designer of this rototiller right here, which is the oldest in the country- - Wow.

- He saw rototillers or some version of rototillers operating in Europe, and after World War I, he came back to the States and decided he was gonna try and manufacture his own type.

For many years, up until the 1980s, the rototillers were made right here.

(air whooshes) - Wow.

- Oh my gosh.

- This is a bell.

- That's a really big bell.

Uh, oh, Matt, look.

- Yeah, okay, ooh.

(bell dinging) (Nicole laughs) (bell dinging) - Oh, that is really nice.

Can I hit it up here?

- You can, but you're not gonna get the full sound.

- Okay, why?

- The sound from a bell comes mainly from its bow.

- Oh, okay.

- And that's where the clapper's going to hit.

- Yes.

- And that's where the bell is gonna produce its best sound.

- The clapper is the thing hanging on the inside?

- That goes inside and swings back and forth.

- Got it.

- Yes.

- Okay.

- Now, some of these bells were built here in Troy, or I should say founded here in Troy, and some of them were in West Troy.

So for instance, this one is a Meneely & Kimberly, made in Troy.

That one is made in Troy.

This one was made in Watervliet in West Troy.

- Okay, and then what is this right over here?

- This is a chime stand.

- Oh.

- You can play it.

Go ahead.

- Nicole, let's duet.

- Duet?

Okay.

- Yeah, you go there.

I'll go here.

- Okay.

- Okay, - Ready?

- Mm, yep.

(chimes dinging and chiming) - Oh, with the feet too.

Are we trying to play a song?

- No.

- Oh, okay.

- The service is starting.

(air whooshes) - This is a cook stove, and it was primarily coal operated.

This is a warming shell.

A visitor came in and said, "Oh, my mother had a stove like this, and my prematurely born brother lived in a basket on the warming shelf."

And I thought, "Is that true?"

And then I heard it, visitor after visitor after visitor telling the story of the baby on the warming shelf.

So we put a baby on the warming shelf just to have that to talk about.

- It's a sturdy shell.

- Yeah.

- It's a very sturdy shell.

- Well, thank you so much for taking us around today.

I think we're going to keep poking around a little bit.

- Oh, yeah.

There's some things I want to see.

- Yeah.

- Oh, please do.

- But it was a pleasure to meet you.

- Thank you so much for coming.

- Thank you.

- I really appreciate it.

- Thank you.

(bright upbeat music) (air whooshes) - Thank you for joining us on this episode of "Field Trip."

- Make sure you check out the other episodes of "Field Trip" at wmht.org/fieldtrip.

- And while you're there, don't forget to let us know where you think- - We should go next.

(upbeat music)