About 15 years ago, the local rich guy died. After his death it became known he had created two “villages” in the woods and filled them up with all of the old stuff he could find. He didn’t have one old cider press, he had dozens. He may have had 40 to 50 horse-drawn buggies and wagons. He even laid full gauge railroad tracks between them although he never got around to having a locomotive, he did have a hand car.
He let his church have functions at his villages, but other than that no one was allowed in. He had his family help with the building work and as a result, they hated the villages and couldn’t wait to liquidate all of it upon his death. The public was invited to the auction and it was amazing. Each of the couple of dozen buildings were stuffed with old stuff.
Sounds like every other episode of American Pickers.
Some people are connoisseurs, others are hoarders.
There was a fellow in the South that made a fortune with sand and gravel pits, and collected steam locomotives in the 1940s and 50s as they were retired. He had dozens of them, actively used around his gravel pits, and they were a known attraction to train buffs.
Upon his death in 1961, his widow ignored offers to buy any or all of them (including a long-term-lease proposal from Southern, where her only involvement would have been cashing their monthly checks) and had them all scrapped.