Frontier Culture Museum: ‘Out of Many, One’

Virginia’s living history museum celebrates the contributions of America’s frontier culture.

A 19th-century reconstructed farm at the Frontier Culture Museum. By the 1820s, the different peoples who settled in the Shenandoah Valley had lived together for several generations. They were shaped by common experiences on the frontier: the Revolutionary War, the founding of the United States, and the market revolution. Bob Kirchman

Historian David McCullough once said that Virginia’s Frontier Culture Museum “is the only place of its kind in the world.” With its unique hands-on exploration of America’s beginnings, the living museum is a celebration of “E Pluribus Unum”—“Out of Many, One.” It traces the roots of the different peoples who traveled here. By reconstructing their former homes and way of life—from West African thatched huts to timber-framed European farmhouses—the museum showcases the unique contributions each culture made to America.

Situated in Staunton, Virginia, along the path of Shenandoah Valley’s Great Valley Wagon Road, the Frontier Culture Museum shows how different peoples traversed this path and contributed to the building of a new nation. Traveling from different countries across the ocean, some sought opportunity or fortune, some escaped famine and oppression, and others came as captives after they were sold into slavery. But all the immigrants brought something to this land—a permanent part of the American story.

Nineteenth-century farmers in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, primarily grew grains and raised livestock. The main cash crop was wheat, which was ground into flour at local mills for export to eastern markets. Bob Kirchman

‘Warrior’s Path’

Before it was a wagon trail, the road was the “Great Warrior’s Path.” For centuries, the Native American peoples of the eastern woodlands traveled the valley, hunting, fishing, trading, and establishing communities. A reconstructed village of bark wigwams shows how they lived.

When Europeans came to Virginia, the Iroquois nation dominated the Shenandoah Valley, keeping much of the area free of settlement for hunting. Other Native American nations such as the Monacans, Cherokee, and Shawnee lived in the valley as well.

Wigwams constructed of bent tree branches covered with bark were the typical houses of the valley’s native people. Bob Kirchman

In the 1722 Treaty of Albany, Virginia Governor Spotswood agreed that the Iroquois lands were the lands west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. As settlers continued to push into the valley, the Iroquois sold their rights to the valley in 1744. By 1768, the Iroquois had sold all their land claims between the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers. These native people contributed their knowledge of native plants and agriculture. They traded with the settlers and received manufactured goods such as flintlock rifles.

In a reconstructed West African farm, we see the life of the Igbo (pronounced EEH-boh) people, who lived in mud houses with thatched roofs. Many young and strong Igbo were captured by neighboring tribes and sold to Portuguese slavers. While the institution of slavery was predominantly found on the large coastal plantations, some valley farmers owned slaves, often renting out their labor to neighbors. These enslaved people contributed their own agricultural knowledge and cuisines to American culture.

Leaving the Old World Behind

The 17th-century Tudor, timber-frame farmhouse at the English exhibit. Bob Kirchman

A farmstead that was carefully dismantled and moved from Hartlebury, England to the museum site is a fine example of a 17th-century Tudor, timber-frame construction. The farmhouse exhibits the lifestyle of the Yeoman farmer (middle class between the gentry and laborer). Motivated by the economic opportunities that the colonies promised, the yeoman, and other middle-class English, immigrated to America in the 17th century, forming Virginia’s elite landholders.

Not all Europeans who settled in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley were people of means. England’s Tudor period (1485–1603) brought a rise in open-field land enclosures which forced peasants off common land and into the streets. The colonies became an outlet for this “excess population” and many went to Virginia as indentured servants. After completing their indenture, they received 50 acres of land, tools, and clothing.

The museum’s reenactment film illustrates the hardship and sacrifices European immigrants faced while journeying to the New World. While immigrating to the colonies, they faced many perils: The tiny ship is at the mercy of the stormy seas and they risk disease in the cramped quarters.  The video documents a young farmer’s story and how he sold himself into indentured servitude for the promise of land in America. As he labors for his master in the New World, his seven-year term of servitude might be altered, resulting in unwarranted, extended service.

A famous example was the English immigrant Richard Mynatt who became the first indentured servant to successfully sue for his freedom. In 1749, the young man traveled to the colonies to become the head chef for Virginia’s esteemed Lee family at Stratford Hall. When his four-year contract ended, Mynatt’s freedom wasn’t honored and he took Virginia’s most powerful and wealthy family to court and won.

The late-18th century Irish blacksmith shop. Bob Kirchman

Onsite, an Irish blacksmith works at his reconstructed forge that was brought from Keenaghan Townland in County Fermanogh, Northern Ireland. Blacksmiths were essential artisans in farming communities, repairing tools and making needed hardware. Irish and Scottish immigrants were often recruited by the early colonists for their specialized labor and skills.

Most blacksmiths worked in small shops with family members and a few apprentices. Typically, they also farmed their own small plot of land, much like the one reconstructed at the museum.

A.J. Graham, the head blacksmith at the American frontier Culture Museum, puts the twist to an iron hook. Bob Kirchman

They brought their own decorative arts with them to Virginia, blending them with the other ethnic styles they found in the New World. The result was the development of truly American decorative forms. The blacksmith’s house, with its thatched roof and parged (cemented) walls, is typical of the dwellings in Northern Ireland.

The half timber-framed houses were typical for 18th-century farming villages in southwestern Germany. Bob Kirchman

To represent southwestern Germany, the living museum transported a peasant farmhouse typical to the area. It’s half timbered with a tile roof. Built in the 17th century, the house features a built-in stove for heating the stube, or stove room, which is the home’s heated living area. There’s a first story bedroom for the grandparents right next to the stube. The stove is fed through a small door in the adjoining kitchen where cooking occurs on a raised hearth. This type of hearth bears testimony to the privation of German peasants, who had to cook with gathered twigs, rather than split logs.

The stube (heated living room) in the German farmhouse. Pottery, painted furniture with lavish decoration, and long-rifle building were among the most significant German contributions. Bob Kirchman

The Germans who settled in the valley were mostly Anabaptists. They generally considered slavery evil, and consequently their farms were small and tended by the immediate family. Neighbors joined together to accomplish larger tasks such as building barns and harvesting crops. A small number of the German settlers were Catholics and Jews.

Sewing Together a New Nation

Early settlers built one-room log cabins similar to the reconstructed 1760s' cabin at the Museum. This modest cabin would commonly be a hastily erected, temporary dwelling that would be replaced when the family had the means to do so. Bob Kirchman

Like pieces of a great quilt, each of these peoples became part of the fabric of American life. Following the trail from the reconstructed farms of the old world, you arrive on America’s frontier. The first living example is a small cabin from 1760, carved out of the wilderness. From simple beginnings such as this grew the farms and industries of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. The journey ends in the 19th century, with exhibits depicting established farms, a schoolhouse, and a little church. A fine bank barn testifies to the robust agriculture of the valley.

The museum's 1840, log schoolhouse with a view of Mary Gray—one Staunton's twin hills (Betsy Bell and Mary Gray) named after an Irish, Old-world ballad. Teachers at 19th- century rural schools were usually itinerant men who would only stay for a few months. Bob Kirchman

The Frontier Culture Museum is one of America’s largest outdoor living history museums and its story is just as large. Children particularly enjoy the hands-on history while costumed reenactors share their trades. Traveling from the Old World to a reconstruction of 19th-century America, spectators can marvel at how elements of each culture have been woven into the fabric of our nation.

One of the reasons McCullough cites his love for the living museum is its celebration of his own Scotch-Irish ancestors and the part they played. Walk the trail and you may find your own ancestors’ place in the story as well.

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