Frontier Culture Museum

Frontier Culture Museum
Frontier Culture Museum is located in Shenandoah Valley
Frontier Culture Museum
Location within Shenandoah Valley
Frontier Culture Museum is located in Virginia
Frontier Culture Museum
Frontier Culture Museum (Virginia)
Frontier Culture Museum is located in the United States
Frontier Culture Museum
Frontier Culture Museum (the United States)
LocationStaunton, Virginia, United States
Coordinates38°7′28.5″N 79°2′58″W / 38.124583°N 79.04944°W / 38.124583; -79.04944
TypeLiving History
Websitefrontiermuseum.org

The Frontier Culture Museum is the biggest open air museum in the Shenandoah Valley. The museum operates on 200 acres of land in Staunton, Virginia,[1] where it features eleven historic exhibits, to include traditional rural buildings from Europe, Africa, and America.

Overview[edit]

The Old World Exhibits of the Frontier Culture Museum include an Igbo West African Farm, a 17th-century English Farm, an 18th-century Irish Farm, an Irish Forge, and an 18th-century German Farm. Here, costumed living-history interpreters at the museum, including blacksmiths, woodworkers, tailors and yarn spinners, tell the tale of the pioneers that inhabited the frontier of the first permanent British colony in North America. Many of the early immigrants to the Shenandoah Valley were farmers seeking opportunities for a better life. These people eventually became Americans and contributed to the success of the colonies and the United States.

The Museum's growing American Exhibits currently comprise an Eastern Woodland Indian exhibit, a 1760s American Settlement, an 1820s American Farm, an 1850s American Farm, the Mount Tabor Church, and an Early American Schoolhouse.[2] These exhibits contributed to making the museum one of the highest rated family-friendly attractions[3] and one of the top tourist destinations in Virginia.[4] In 2021, it was rated the best museum in the Shenandoah Valley by Virginia Living[5] and by the Daily News-Record.[6]

The house later known as the Worcestershire House was a very old house in Hartlebury, England, dismantled and re-assembled at the Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia, in 1992. The John Smith (Smyth or Smythe) family built it in the 1630s. An example of the Tudor frame variety of timber framing construction, it was dismantled in 1970 and shipped.[7]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "The 8 Best Museums in Staunton, Virginia (VA)". Things To Do. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  2. ^ Exhibits:
    Austin, Alana (Mar 28, 2014). "Frontier Culture Museum Exhibit Plants Riesling Grapes". NBC29.
    Borns, Patricia (Nov 4, 2014). "Fire claims huts at Frontier Culture Museum". USA Today. Staunton News Leader.
    Calello, Monique (June 3, 2015). "New exhibit opens at Frontier Culture Museum". USA Today. Staunton News Leader.
    Stuart, Bob (Apr 6, 2016). "Fire damages 1700s farm at Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton". Waynesboro News Virginian.
    "Permanent Exhibits". Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia.
  3. ^ "24 Best Things to Do in Virginia with Kids of All Ages". VacationIdea. March 12, 2012. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  4. ^ "Highest-rated museums in Virginia". Stacker. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  5. ^ "Shenandoah Valley: Best Living & Recreation Winners 2021". VirginiaLiving.com. 2021-09-04. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  6. ^ "Best Of The Valley Winners - August 2021 by Daily News-Record - Issuu". issuu.com. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  7. ^ American Frontier Culture Foundation. 1998. Traditional Timberframing: The Worcestershire House- A Catalog of the Exhibit Prepared by the Research & Collections Department and Curated by Vivian Lea Stevens to Celebrate the Completion of the Worcestershire House, May 1993. Frontier Museum Heritage Books: Staunton, Virginia. Pages 4-5.

External links[edit]