Enjoy Hands-On History in Staunton, Virginia

Located in the heart of Virginia's scenic Shenandoah Valley, the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton,Virginia, shows you show real working farmers lived from the 17th to 19th centuries.

This museum is made up of actual buildings of the periods--painstakingly dismantled in Europe and reassembled here in the New World. And, unlike most museums, you can touch everything on display-and even actually get involved with the farm work if you like.

To get a good overview of the museum, start your journey back in time at the modern information center with a short orientation film. Then wander over the site at your own pace to tour farms from four different eras.

At each farm, you'll get a close-up look of the actual work being performed--and talk with authentically costumed and extremely knowledgeable interpreters who enjoy sharing with you a living history experience of the past.

Visit 18th Century Germany

At the 18th century Germany farm, you'll enter a "town farm" made up from an actual house and a barn dating from 1688, which were moved here from the village of Hördt, in Germany's Rhineland-Palatinate region. Here you'll see home crafts being made by interpreters who will tell you about the chores that made up their everyday life.

Travel to Northern Ireland

Nearby, you'll find yourself in 18th Century Northern Ireland, as you visit a reconstructed Ulster farm from Drumquin, County Tyrone. Here you'll see how the Scotch and Irish farmers lived in Northern Ireland before they left for the United States. In the New World, they hoped to own their own farm, rather than paying constantly rising rent and being forced to tithe to the Anglican church, even though they were Presbyterians.

Enjoy 17th Century England

Next, you'll come to a 17th century house from Worcestershire, England, in the West Midlands region, and learn what a yeoman's life was like. You'll also learn of the social and economic pressures that made so many risk everything to start over in the new land.

Visit an American Homestead

At the 19th century American homestead, transported from Botetourt County, Virginia, you'll see how a Shenandoah Valley farmer and his family lived in the 1850s, before the Civil War. The American homestead brings together all the nuances of the various European experiences to form the unique blend that is our cultural heritage.

Regardless of which farm you visit, you'll see just how much work it took to put food on the table and make do with what was available. You'll come away with a new appreciation of how difficult it was for our ancestors to improve the quality of their life that was so different from ours today.

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