Snow Rollers

"Uphill Both Ways to School in the Snow..."
As we swelter in the summer heat of 2026 we long for that break in the weather that will bring us cooling relief. Today in the northeast, temperatures reached from 82 to 93 degrees in one hour and two days ago my digital weather station recorded 101 degrees. As a cold weather person I recall how my father from New Jersey used to jest that my mother was a, "clam digging, blue nosed, New England Yankee." That blue nosed thing says something about how cold it can get here in New Hampshire and how many of us long for a hint of that right now!​

Scrolling through my digital photos for something other than this heat wave, I came across a photo from last years's Farm Days Event at Muster Field Farm in North Sutton, NH. On display was a  giant snow roller, used from the mid 180o's into the early 1900's to "break out" the roads after a heavy snow fall.

According to a post by John Robinson for WFMK Radio 99.1 in Michigan: 
"Before there was such a thing as snow plows, there were snow rollers. The rollers didn't remove or plow snow, they simply packed the snow down to make a smoother surface. Roads back then were not smooth to begin with – there were ruts, potholes, crevasses...all getting filled with packed snow by snow rollers to make the roads maneuverable. A snow roller was basically a large wheel that was pulled by horses or a team of oxen. Once the roadway was flattened, it was easier for carriages to get through, once they attached planks that resembled skis."

This mammoth apparatus was more efficient than breaking out the road with a giant log pulled by the same horse or oxen power. The very weight of snow roller and the farmers driving the animals made for some very efficient hard packing of the roadways.

All I could think of was... poor horses....poor oxen.

And, remember the tales of our forefathers who claimed to, "walk uphill both ways to school in the snow?" They failed to mention snow rollers that made that trek a bit easier for school kids heading off to their country schools.

​Note: The snow roller under the pavilion (x2) is located in Bow, NH

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Ryder Corner Schoolhouse at Muster Field Farm, No. Sutton, NH