georgetown law center and author of a book restoring the lost constitution and a political science review -- vassar at texas state university landmark cases -- live monday on c-span c-span3, and radio. onn american history tv saturday, november 7, four tours and live interviews. we will explore the tank submarine experience, the road to berlin, an african-american story. we will take your questions for historians throughout the day. later,ar ii -- 70 years saturday, november 7, beginning at 11:00 a.m. eastern here on

american history tv on c-span3. >> each week, american artifacts takes you to museums to show what artifacts reveal about american history. located in stanton, virginia, the frontier culture museum tells the story of migrants from europe, we visit original houses -- we learn about how national politics impact in this area before the civil war. this is the second of a two-part series. joe: i am the director of marketing here at the frontier culture museum. we are a living history museum with a mission focused on education. our objective here is teach

people how a unique folk culture was created through blending european, african, and indigenous peoples cultures. today we will start on the old -- we will see a workhouse. stephen: i work here at the frontier culture museum, and my title is interpreter -- those of us in cost you interpreting the exhibits -- castilla interpreting the exhibits are referred to as interpreters. they were primarily week farmers. they raised beef cattle for sale, then kept cows to milk and make butter and cheese. a good diet, had but it was heavy in pork and corn products, and then they

raised wheat, reich, and oats. this area was the bread basket of the country until after the civil war. we took was the money crop, the cash crop. it was kind of like what tobacco was to the east of us. this 1820's american farm was located originally in what is now northern rock in ham county. when it was first built, it was still augusta county. the main part of the house was constructed by a german immigrant and he came down here after a generation in pennsylvania. it is a typical story. it is why the museum wanted this property -- the family story was shared by other american families at the same time. we are currently in the parlor, and this parlor was added by the original owner's grandson in 1820, but it is an older house. by the time this house looks like this -- the time this parlor look like this in 1820, the frontier was basically in

missouri, that would be the frontier. when the main part of the house was built across the hall from us in 1783, it would depend on what vantage point you are looking. if you are in the philadelphia area, for example, definitely the largest city in the colonies at that time, this, right here, the valley, would be the far, the frontier. we could look back and say it is further west from us, over the shenandoah mountain. it would look like the frontier to most people. downgeorge bowman came here from pennsylvania, he would think of himself as going west, way west, and we do not think the valley of virginia today as being in the west, but it was. this parlor and the hallway that i can see from where i am sitting, added in 1820 by the original owner's grandson.

this room, the architecture in here, we refer to it as federal style. it was popular in the federal period after the revolution. it is really english in derivation. rails, the the chair boards. that really is derived from the english style of people with any active -- ethnic background. this is the style most folks would aspire to. in fact, we think the grandson was, in a way, showing off. this is a little fancier than most families would have. there really are no german architectural details in here us.pt the beam above the main house, which is a long house as well, across the hall, is similar in it for plan to the

german house we have here in the museum. we find that interesting because it, georgewho built bowman, he had been in america 24 years before building it. a common story through philadelphia, settled in berks county, and he could settle a -- sell a hundred acres farm and by 260 acres here in the valley. been inugh he had america that length of time, he floorplan. a german the kitchen is the first door that we enter going into the other part of the house. we have what a lot of people refer to as a walk-in fireplace. is the living room, dining room, family room, workroom. we have our spinning wheels in there.

that is the main room in the house and the parents bedroom. basically three rooms in the main part of the house. originally, george bowman, the name of the man that built this house, he was born you'll on bauman.- johan he would meet with the county surveyor and the county surveyor was certified by the college of william and mary and actually had quite a bit of power because if that surveyor thought you might not be of the proper ilk to live in the area, you probably were not going to find any property. guide andssign you a you would look at property that would be available for purchase. a lot of the area in this western part of virginia was in large tracts of land -- to the north of us, the fairfax tract, which was given to lord fairfax,

but huge holdings. then, those members of the aristocracy that owned the land were supposed to settle it with a certain number of people within a certain number of years. so, there was a lot of in a going of land and it difficulties with people in theory,itles, but meeting with the county surveyor and finding a vacant piece of land, and then coming back with a guide and seeing if that property was available for purchase. prices varied whether it was bottomland, of land, or whatever. there were problems many times in acquiring final title to a piece of property. there were overlapping claims. goingad about somebody through a piece of property and years later finding it is claimed by somebody else. that is not infrequent. at that time, in the 18th century, just north of us, what is currently rocking him county

and north, would have had a larger number of those folks from -- rocking him county and north would have had a larger number of those folks. it was referred to as the irish track in the 18th century -- folks from northern ireland would not consider themselves ireland, the folks that modern-day americans call the scots irish. they made up a huge number of the population, more than the germans, though there was a scattering of english, the scots, and germans as well. where we are sitting now what have had folks from the flooded area of germany. this was a family, actually at one point in the early 19 century, there were 12 children that survived until adulthood. these folks were not slaveowners.

slavery formed a large part of the economy here in the valley, but most folks that not own slaves. these folks were fortunate to have that number of children to help work the land. their activities fluctuated with the seasons, basically, for growing crops. generally, the men would work in the fields, but the women would work alongside them as well because in a family farm everybody had to help. labor.ere differences in for example, right now we are bringing in the hay crop. the men would be using a side to mow the hay, and the woman would act as bundlers to wrap the hay up. if they are cradling the wheat, they would act as bundlers to put them into shocks to dry and things like that. work, but the men

did not do the cooking, for example. the women and the girls did a lot of that. -- the butter and the cheese -- it was primarily women and young girls. they thought the girls and young women were much better. a young boy would be extremely embarrassed to be seen milking a cow in the 1800s here in the valley. the wheat is what they are selling. wheatly, that week was -- was ground into flour at the local mills. most communities would have several mills in the area, and was shipped long distances. we think of these folks -- they appear to us to be quite self-sufficient, but actually, their lives were determined by international grain markets, because it was shipped long distances all around the country, and after the 1850's, even around the horn out to

california. traveled far, but for their own use -- pork products -- everyone raised hogs for themselves -- and the corn, that was primarily for their own use. this area, by the 1820's and up to the civil war, it was no longer the frontier by that time. , thrivingell-settled farm area with the economy improving all the time. more bills being built all of the time. more land being put under -- mills being built all of time. more land being put under cultivation -- cultivation. people were aware of the problems in the country, most of them concerning slavery, but they probably felt they would not be affected by things like that -- certainly in the 1820's they would have felt safe and no one could have forecast at that time the problems that the whole country, and definitely the 40ley, would have faced some

years later. when the main part of this house was built, this is a long house, that would be a community event. you might have four kornman responsible for the notching of the house, but the entire community would be taking part because it would be time for the community to come together, catch up on news, maybe do a bit of courting, get together and socialize. the community was more involved in things like that. these folks were lutherans and they went to the local church. that would form a lot of their community events through the church. there would also be, you know, farm projects, maybe, when someone was building in a -- building -- bringing in a crop. dutiesould share those in return for some help from the

family for some other help on the farm. not everyone went to school. 30's, 40's here in the valley, school would be a community thing we're farm families would get together, and a local farm would donate an acre, a half-acre of the property, and families would get together and hire someone -- a teacher to come, and the teacher would generally board with one of those farm families, and they would be paid, not very much, not very well, but they would get their room and board. not all children got to go to school. if they were going to school, they would not be going to school in the spring time when it was time for planning, and in the fall when it was time for harvesting. it was more of a wintertime thing. from have a schoolhouse the valley as well.

andrew -- andrew: my name is andrew richardson. we're standing in 1840's era single schoolhouse. attend schoolould often year-round, but it was a regular since most of them were needed on the farm. the typical school day was from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. with a large break for lunch. they usually went home for lunch. the busiest times of the year would be outside of the busiest times of the farmers life. and thethe summer school calendar was the slowest time in the schoolhouse, but late in the fall, or beginning in the fall to the spring were the busiest times in the schoolhouse. this was a schoolhouse geared toward farmers kids of all ages. there was no grades system. children from, maybe as young as

six or seven, all the way up to the upper-teenage years would have been here throughout the appear to the students were divided amongst each other -- usually boys on one side and girls on the other, but throughout the day they would actually move around based on their skills. they would be taught the basics of reading and writing, arithmetic, probably a little bit of geography, history, and things like that. this was not a public school. the time period we are talking about was before virginia institute of schools in the 1870's. this was a privately funded school by the parents and the communities. often it was called a community school. the supplies, most of them were provided by the individual parents for their schoolchildren. the funding for the school and the schoolmaster was often a collection among the families to build the structure and hire a schoolmaster. sometimes, this was a farmer who

got together with his neighbors and they collectively paid for it and one of them would teach in there. the man who started this schoolhouse taught for his children and some of the neighbors children. often, they had to hire outside of the community, and they would ring in usually a young man, who might have some formal education, sometimes not, and it was not a paying job. often the school masters were not regular. be during a down semester for a college student, or it might just be someone answering a newspaper ad looking for pay for an amount of time. so, when i mentioned earlier that the school year was often year-round, there is no guarantee there is someone in it teaching all year. it was very irregular for the students, and also very irregular because it was difficult to keep someone employed. sometimes it was a shock to people that public schools did

not begin as early as they thought they did. they will state by state, and most were instituted after the civil war. that doshock to people not realize that public schools have not been around that long, actually. this is a typical schoolhouse found in the shenandoah valley. typically, you are finding a man teaching in it. one of the reasons, of course, was men had more opportunities that then for more education than women, typically, but it actually had a lot to do with corporal punishment. you often hear a lot of accounts of men teaching in the early and mid-19th century because they wanted a firm hand in charge of a lot of students. community schools like this -- they were found a lot in very agricultural or rural areas, simply because the populations could not support a much larger school. especially in towns and cities, you could often find multiple

schoolhouses. in the countryside, where families are clustered together, it is best to have a schoolhouse. the students had to provide their own slate boards. they would usually provide their ink.en and books were hard to come by. there were plenty of them, actually lots of textbooks back then, but books in general were much more expensive back then, and often the schoolmaster is the only one that might have a book that he will use to teach from. students were in charge of their own recess. .here was no gym class no clothes or equipment were provided for that. instruction was very oral. students were often having to recite or memorize things to present to the class in front of everyone. not a lot of homework was given out. rather, it was assignments where

you are practicing your elocution or your handwriting on paper, but not a lot of things being turned in. it was actually proving yourself in front of others and the schoolmaster. this house that we are standing in now was built in the 1840's. there are accounts of one existing about 50 years earlier. one-year schoolhouses were incorporated into the public school system, but often replaced pretty quickly as a transportation improves and school districts performed. some were in use for quite a while. is megan name sullivan. ima costumed interpreter here at the -- i am a costumed interpreter here at the museum. the family that lived here came from western germany, where we

represent our german farm at the museum. they would have traveled down the shenandoah valley once reaching america and settled on a piece of land they got from a land agent. they got approximately 225 acres of land. they will divide that up based on what they need for cash purposes and subsistence. the house itself, the rooms we are standing in were the rooms originally built by the family in 1838, and 10 years late -- later they added on the kitchen and dining room. during that renovation they added the porches, the front and back, and put the siding on the house, making it a nice, big house. the family size itself will include a mom and dad parent, and approximately six to 10 children. a very large family, and if they had the means, the family might

own a slave or rent one, and that slave would also sleep inside of the house. this farm came with a spring house, a stone building. it is a natural spring that comes from underground, and the family collected the water in a trough. the spring water that comes from underground is very cold, so not only is that your source of water, but your refrigerator, to -- storage for milk and tea. we also have a wash house. where they will store a lot of pork products like bacon, sausage, ham. we have a pro to shed, which is where you would store would, so , so it would be dry. we had a tobacco farm. they would harvest a little bit of tobacco. it would not be a huge cash

crop. we have the turkeys and chickens, and then the barn, which is a very german-influenced barn. you will be storing grain and your animals in the wintertime. and boys will be out in the field taking care of the major cash crop. they will be in charge of slaughtering those animals, doing more of the heavy work with animals, whereas women will be in charge of cooking, mending, washing close. they will feed the animals, milk the cows, for instance. men will be the ones to take a major cash crop, the week -- week to the market, to the mills, have them sold, have the products appraised, and get money for the family. -- men willke tools make tools for the farms. , take carequilt, sew

of children. they are doing needed based off spheres -- delineated based off of spheres. the house is seen as the domestic sphere and you extend that about five feet and that is the woman's area of work. outside of that area is the workspace for the man -- the field, the barn, the harder labor is out there for the mend. this house is from the county that is about an hour and a half drive south of where we are here in stanton, near roanoke. average.about if you compare it to other firms in the shenandoah valley, it is a little lower on the social economic scale. they would seem poor than a family -- poorer than a family in rockingham county.

it takes a while to march down the shenandoah valley. other differences -- because of the difference in economic status across the shenandoah valley, that farm can have plastered walls, brightly colored painted walls, whereas we are still using whitewash. the materials you have access to are going to be a little different. the 1820's house also has a cast-iron wood stove they can use to heat up a room, where is this house is still using a standard fireplace for heating, and that is going to be -- location is the major determining factor on economic status there, as well as just the family choices. perhaps they did not want the newest things. they were accountable with cooking, and using that for older forms of heating. they were happy for that. the 1820's house is showing a second or third-generation in

america, whereas the 1850's house is showing a. or for -- a third or fourth-generation. the front here at this point, america in the 1850's, -- frontier at this point, in america, in the 1850's, is going to rest in nebraska. we are still showing a family in the 1850's farm living in the shenandoah valley, but the way they lived would be very similar to the way people could be living on the new frontier here -- in america more toward the west. -- supplies, technology, allowing people to have more access to goods. machines are letting you cut more wood instead of just building a log cabin, which

would have been previous. those changes in technology really shift how the frontier can be lived on. that shapes the differences between 1820's frontier and 1850's frontier. probably the biggest national political issue in the 1850's is slavery, and that is definitely going to impact anyone across the nation. they are going to have things like, you know, a slave reward postern -- poster they will find in their local tavern, grocery store, that they can take off the wall, and for a family living in the shenandoah valley, $200 might be a valuable reward they might want, depending on their leanings on the issue. the shenandoah valley is a lip -- a bit more ambition -- ambiguous as to how they feel about slavers. some are ok with it and will rent a slave, and others are against it and more

abolitionist. finding a reward poster in your local town, very common. the copper mise of 1850, -- the aspectise in 1850 had an to it about the slave law, straightening that law. so, a reward poster like this is coming directly out of an event like the compromise of 1850. you have to capture the slaves escaping from their owners in to south, and if you happen see the guy that is advertising this poster, this family might see that as a good economic opportunity. capture him, get the reward, and you benefit your family. so, slavery is definitely going to be entering your home personally, even if you do not own slaves. you will be bombarded with messages like this from slaveowners, and then your -- yourrs as well newspapers will have

advertisements for slave auctions, and they will detail the reports of national news and politics in the 1850's. the nation is becoming more attuned to these national issues. slavery is impacting a family, even on the frontier. spotty onis a little the front here. if your community can afford to build its own school, then your children might have a chance of being educated. family has a history and background of educating family members, it could be passed down just through family members and your children could be educated. without the public school system that we celebrate today, it is a little bit uneven across the nation, but most children are going to have a rudimentary knowledge of how to read and how to write. so, a newspaper might be accessible to them so they can understand the new politics of

the day. technology, once again, is allowing newspapers to become more accessible to families, and that is going to do a hope more newspapers available, and so more people want to read them, so a rise in literacy. the big bullet point and theme we try to tell people about the 1850's farm is the last chapter of this museum if you're thinking about it as a big book. the big message you want to take away is that people coming into america are slowly blending all of those cultures together, english, irish, german, west african, native american traditions and beliefs are all coming together. by the 1850's, you have the beginnings of that american culture as a tangible thing. you can see that in the way that they are living in this house, the food they might be eating,

the house they construct for themselves. for example, the family is a german immigrant family, but by the 1850's they will be speaking english in their home and at church, so the english influence is coming into their lives. in terms of their food, sitting down to dinner with them, they will have sauerkraut now and then. it is still an american favorite today. but they will mix in things like okra, watermelon, black eyed peas. corn will be a staple of their diet. they will combine that staple grain with foods they have traditionally eaten in europe. cornbread is a literal blending in a dish. you have a native plant to north america and bread, which is common in europe, coming together to create cornbread. even in food, in culinary practices.

in terms of architecture, the room we are standing in resembles very much an english parlor, so you're displaying your fanciest furniture. dishes on display to show fancy china. english influence on architecture to create a room for guests and displaying your fanciest goods. we are right next to a very german bedroom, having the mom and dad sleeping on the first floor is a very german tradition so that master bedroom is right next to this english parlor and has that cultural blending right here in this very room. and then we have porches on the front and back of the house, which are a west african influence on architecture. the house is a big story of how these cultures are coming together and blending to create this new american culture that we still add to today. it is not finished by any means, bu