Wonderful rusted metal!
>> Tuesday, August 18, 2015 –
sculpture
I visited my mother in Chicago again this weekend and brought her some more plants for her garden. The surprise though was that I came home with something for my garden. An old, rusty, wonderful fire hydrant!
It was in her garage, ready to be recycled as scrap. "Can I have it for my garden?" I asked my brother. "Of course!" he said. Since he's turning into a plant person and has seen my garden via my blog, did he know it would look great surrounded by greenery? Did he not envision it but trusted my judgement?
First thing I learned: fire hydrants are incredibly heavy!
I did manage to get it into the trunk myself with a bit of straining, but getting it out was easier once I got home since I used a ramp and rolled it down -- thanks gravity!
As you can see, it was once painted yellow, or red, or both.
It came from our neighbor's garden -- he's a retired firefighter apparently.
Some Internet research made the not-too-clear markings decipherable: "Eddy Valve Div. James B. Clow"
"Coshocton, O" -- (Choshocton, Ohio)
From this information and the fact that this hydrant is marked with a four-pointed logo, it looks like this hydrant is -- well, I don't know how old. This page says that the 2-piece barrel hydrants were made in Waterford, NY, but mine is clearly from Coshocton, and this other page doesn't show any 2-piece barrel designs from there. More research is required!
Yes, yes, rusty metal is great. Where to place it though? Certainly not the front yard, as that could confuse somebody in case of a fire. (Now that I think of it, I don't know where the closest fire hydrant is in my neighborhood! I'll have to go refresh my memory...)
I'm trying it here for now, in one of the prairie beds:
It looks pretty good from several angles...
I think I'll leave it here for a while and see if I change my mind. I think it's good though...
What do you think?
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How neat! It lovely! I've seen a little tag Out of Order on ahydrant down the street. Maybe your fire department has one? Coshocton is a quaint old canal town with the historic Roscove Village across the brdidge.
This is super cool. I would have taken it, too. It looks great in your prairie bed, surrounded with greenery.
It looks fantastic. I want one.
I think it would be fun to hook it up to a hose and make it useable again, although I have no idea how to go about that.
Love the combination of texture and color as well as the interesting detail.
Love it! Makes a great conversation piece too!
Maywyn: won't need the tag where I've located this, but thanks for the idea. Could come in handy if I start collecting these. :)
Gerhard: Thanks! I expect it will be less impressive in winter...
Marie: That's an interesting idea -- make a sprinkler out of it! Not something I'd use in my garden, but I bet other people would.
Charlie: You and me both! Nothing like decades of paint wear to make metal fascinating!
Mark/Gaz: Thanks! I just hope it doesn't kill a raccoon (or my foot). ;)
It looks great! I have a rusty metal dog lifting it's leg that needs to go beside it!
Peter: Nice! Incidentally our family's only dog was named Rusty.
Nice find and fun research. You can't go wrong with the placement, its such a great piece. With seasonal die-back of plants you may need to move it to a Winter location and create a whole new vignette.