Matthews Living History Farm Museum

Mission

The Concept
The principal concept of the facility is to construct a thoroughly authentic period farm, demonstrating the equipment, techniques and lifeways appropriate to the period.

This facility will explain the interplay between technology, trade, demographics and society and how these elements changed over time.

Various activities will be scheduled that will allow visitors to participate in and to experience those tasks which characterized earlier farm life. The farm might also schedule events like a revival, a marriage, or corn harvest at appropriate times of the year. Of course, the organizing principle is living history.

The facility will contain recordings of traditional music, taped interviews, letters, historical photos and other audio/visual presentations. Parking and rest rooms will also be provided.

Objectives
-To preserve the cultural heritage of upper New River Valley circa 1900: artifacts, tools, equipment, methods and skills. Beyond this, our goal is to examine the successful adaptations early formed families made with respect to their social relationships and physical environment.

-The organizing principal is the Living History. Our goal is to remove the tools and equipment from the traditionally held spaces of walls and glass cases and put them to use for an experiential museum. 

-We aspire to become a leading educational and research institution exploring the economic and social history of the Southern Appalachians.

About Us:
Matthews Living History Farm Museum is a 21 acre working farm, circa 1900. We are a 501 (c) 3 Non-Profit organization.  The activities demonstrated at the farm represent common practices in Grayson County around 1900.  Key survival skills required for self-sufficiency in that era have become today's art forms.  From gardening to blacksmithing, wood carving to food preservation, quilting to chair caning, soap making to quilting, driving a team of horses or oxen to spinning a fine thread - these are a few of the dying arts of the region that we seek to preserve.  A timeless and enduring aspect of the culture is the unique, unforgettable music of the region, which we attempt to incorporate into every event.  It is also important to us to help preserve the stories of the founding families of our region,  the communities that they helped build, and the tools they used to build them.