Near the first part of May, we went to see the Frontier Culture Museum. It was quite a drive to get there, but we'd passed by the signs for it many times while on long trips, and I'd wondered about it each time. We finally made the trip just to go see it. It was a delightful afternoon!
There are two sections to the museum, which is not your typical museum. Nearly all the exhibits are actual homes that were taken from their country of origin: England, Ireland, and Germany. They also had an Irish blacksmith's forge, also an original building, centuries old. The buildings had been in use, and the homes actually lived in for centuries. When scheduled for being demolished to make way for something more modern, each brick or piece of wood was numbered and carefully disassembled, brought to Staunton, Virginia, then put back together to become part of the Frontier Culture Museum. It gives visitors a chance to see and hear how the early American settlers lived before they left their country of origin, and what hardships had caused them to leave their homeland. The English, Irish, and German were the main groups of early colonists that helped shape America into a unique nation. The slaves from West Africa also had an influence, and a West African home compound was re-created for the Museum, since their type of home would not withstand the centuries.
In the second section are American homes, also mostly original homes dating back to the 1800's. Visitors learn how the immigrants adapted their native ways to their new homeland, and how they influenced one another.
It was an enjoyable and well-spent afternoon.
Above, at an American home of the 1820's, Josiah and Jordan
learn that carding wool isn't as easy as you might think.
Below, Jon looks on as the docent of the English
farmstead explains about how cheese was made.
Below: Louise by the English homestead. Off to the left is the kettle
and fire for cleaning the wool, a tiresome and not particularly enjoyable
task. Sheep grazed in a nearby field. Everything produced here is made
the way the farmers had done it centuries ago.
