World's Largest Cedar Bucket

Murfreesboro, Tennessee, United States

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A cedar bucket built in 1887 by the Tennessee Red Cedar Woodenworks Company of Murfreesboro as a promotional piece, billed as the world's largest. Accounts say it appeared at the 1893 Chicago and 1904 St. Louis world's fairs. After the factory burned (reported as 1950 or 1952), it was displayed elsewhere, and it returned to Murfreesboro in 1976 for display at Cannonsburgh Village. It burned in 2005 in an apparent arson, and a rebuilt bucket was unveiled there in 2011.

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World's Largest Cedar Bucket

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Site-level location · 35.8439° N, 86.3969° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

In 1866 the Tennessee Red Cedar Woodworks Company was Murfreesboro's only industry and the only company in the United States making cedar buckets, according to the City of Murfreesboro. County history spells it Woodenworks. The company built an enormous bucket in 1887 as a promotional tool, and the city now bills it as the World's Largest Cedar Bucket.

The bucket took nearly a year to complete and traveled to fairs, winning blue ribbons at the 1893 Chicago and 1904 St. Louis world's fairs. At St. Louis, a beer company leased it, filled it with 1,566 gallons of beer and built a catwalk round the top for visitors to sample.

As indoor plumbing reduced the need for cedar buckets, a fire damaged the factory, which the city dates to 1950 and county history to 1952. The bucket was sold to a local grocer and displayed at Crigger's Market and a Georgia amusement park before coming back to Murfreesboro in 1976 for Cannonsburgh Pioneer Village.

In June 2005 a fire, assumed to be arson, destroyed most of the bucket. County history says it reduced the bucket to a pile of charred wood loosely held together by metal bands, while the city describes it as partially destroyed. The Rutherford County Blacksmiths' Association rebuilt it, reusing the old hardware, with red cedar bought from a Cannon County sawmill. The new bucket, nearly 6 feet tall and 6 feet wide at the base, was unveiled on October 22, 2011, at the Harvest Days Festival at Cannonsburgh Village.

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PRACTICAL

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WHAT TO EXPECT

A giant cedar bucket on outdoor display at Cannonsburgh Village, a pioneer-village museum park. The park's hours are not documented in the sources reviewed; check with the city before visiting.

ACCESS

Cannonsburgh Village, Murfreesboro, Tennessee (Parks & Recreation Department address: 2140 N. Thompson Lane, Murfreesboro, TN 37129).

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47 km away

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