This weathervane was photographed above the cupola on the red barn behind the Stearns House on the Pinkerton Academy campus in Derry, New Hampshire. It is not visible from the road, but you can view it from the parking lot of the Stearns building or from the athletic fields on the hill beside it. The Stearns House is located at 19 North Main Street (Bypass Route 28), next to the new historical marker.
This is a fine three dimensional weathervane featuring a running horse, a driver and a sulky. Harness racing was a big deal in this area until a few years ago when the Rockingham Race Track closed in nearby Salem, New Hampshire. I used to see sulkies on the local roads in Londonderry, training the horses. A sulky is a small cart with two wheels and a only one seat for a driver. Both horses and dogs were trained for harness racing using sulkies. Harness racing goes back to ancient times - just think of the Roman chariots and the ancient Egyptians!
The Stearns House on the Pinkerton campus is used as an administrative building. It was formerly the headmaster's office, and is now a visitor center.
There is a link below to another weathervane featuring a sulky and driver, photographed in 2012 in Windham, New Hampshire, just south of Derry.
For the truly curious:
An old blog post about Pinkerton Academy:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/04/200th-anniversary-of-pinkerton-academy.html
Another "Weathervane Wednesday" featuring a horse and sulky from 2012:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/04/weathervane-wednesday-horse-and-sulky.html
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To Cite/Link to this post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "A Horse and Sulky at Pinkerton Academy - Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 2, 2021, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/06/a-horse-and-sulky-at-pinkerton-academy.html: accessed [access date]).
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