A Visit to Walnut Grove

A CENTER OF INVENTION IN RURAL VIRGINIA

McCormick’s Mill. — Photo by Bob Kirchman

An Afternoon at Walnut Grove

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Indomitable perseverance in a business, properly understood, always ensures ultimate success.”—Cyrus McCormick, inventor and industrialist. (read more)

Indomitable Perseverance

Last week my 95 year old uncle passed away. He was the one who, in my youth, handed me a copy of Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton’s book Endurance. I was riveted. The story is true. It tells of Shackleton’s expedition to Antarctica. The ship ends up trapped in the ice and the crew abandon her as the ice crushes the hull beneath the water. Endurance tells one of the most incredible survival stories I have ever read.

So, as I say goodby to the man who taught me howe to never give up, I find the quote by Cyrus McCormick about Indomitable Perseverance quite fitting. After spending a wonderful morning with my grandchildren, I made my way home by the slow road. The Cyrus McCormick Museum beckoned. I spent a wonderful bit of time contemplating how innovation, along with Indomitable Perseverance, changed the face of agriculture forever — all over the world.

A flock of Canada Geese walk past the mill and the shop next to it, where Robert McCormick and his son Cyrus worked on the reaper. — Photo by Bob Kirchman

Detail of a working model of the reaper. — Photo by Bob Kirchman

The workings of the reaper… — Photo by Bob Kirchman

…inspired by the workings of the mill. — Photo by Bob Kirchman