When you enter the Carroll County Farm Museum grounds, the first things you will notice are the wonderful buildings.
The three-story, brick Farmhouse, built in 1852, was originally the County Almshouse constructed to house the poor.
Adjacent to the Farmhouse is the Living History Center built to house the male residents of the County Almshouse.
These wonderful structures
have been beautifully restored and preserved to house furnishings and artifacts of the late 19th century.
Guides in period attire will lead you through the Farmhouse interpreting each room, transporting you back to the days
of the farming family in the 1800s. Each year special exhibits are on display in the Farmhouse in the Hall Display
Case and the Dining Room Bowfront Cabinet. Click
here for a
calendar of Special Displays.
After leaving the Farmhouse, visitors are encouraged to explore the Farm Museum at their own pace. Walking tour
pamphlets are available, and push button recordings and signage provide the visitor with information in the various
exhibit buildings.
The Living History Center next to the Farmhouse holds 12 exhibit rooms, each representing a necessary skill. Volunteer
artisans demonstrate in:
- The Broom Shop
- The Summer Kitchen
- The Bakery
- Tinsmith Shop
- Spinning Room
- Weaving Room
- Quilting Room
- Almshouse Room
- The Burns Memorial Research Library
- 1890 Veterinary Surgeon's Office
- The Country Apparel Shop
- Basket Weaver & Woodworking Shop
Other structures include the log
cabin, the Blacksmith Shop, the Fire House, the Spring House, the Smokehouse and the General Store.
The Farm Museum also proudly boasts three post and beam barns as well as a truly rare and unique log barn from the
18th century. This latest addition to the Farm Museum, the Hoff Memorial Barn, allows us to look back even further
into our rural heritage. Other exhibits are housed in the Wagon Shed and Implement Building.
Make Hay While the Sun Shines: Harvesting, Threshing, Power
See how farmers exchanged many small tools for reaping and threshing grain crops for enormous machines that
did it all.
Full Circle: Plows, Harrows, Cultivators
Compare primitive tools for planting fields and inventions of the 1800s.
Corn Exhibit
See how corn was planted and harvested for animals and people. A unique display of corn huskers is featured.
Hauling Exhibit
Compare wagons and wheels for farm use and for building roads.
To Market we Go
See how farm products were sorted and boxed, ice was harvested, and products transported to the train. "Shop"
from a Huckster wagon and measure with scales and baskets.
Saddlery
A display of saddles, harness and tack. Learn how man communicates with the horse by movement and pressure.
All in a Day's Work
Everyone in the family helped with chores for each season, from milking, making butter, butchering and picking
apples, to winter crafts of woodworking and making pottery.
Rural Free Delivery
Carroll County enjoyed the first complete rural free delivery service in the United States. See how mail and
packages were delivered to homes by horse-drawn wagons.
Click here to see a map of Carroll County Farm Museum.