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Colonial Farming Practices, Maryland

As told by Estelle Hansen
Carroll County, Maryland

Story Narrative:

A historic wooden barn in an idyllic farm setting in summer.

Local farmer, Bob Shirley, explains to Estelle Hansen how the landscape of Carroll County farming practices differed in the Colonial Era from today's agriculture practices. In coordination with the Carroll County Farm Museum, Union Mills Homestead, Maryland.

Bob Shirley (00:23): I'm Bob Shirley, and I'm a volunteer out here at the Carroll County Farm Museum. I'm a farmer, but we've helped here especially with the education part here, with training docents for the Hoff Barn.

Bob Shirley (00:43): What did the Greenwood family raise on their farm? Well, the main purpose of that farm was to feed, clothe, and shelter the farm family. They grew corn, which today is what we call yellow dent corn. Looks like this. They didn't have that. They had this type of corn. This is what we today call Indian corn. They would've called it maize, M-A-I-Z-E. That probably was kind of what the ears looked like. They weren't anywhere near as big as we're used to seeing ears of corn today.

Bob Shirley (01:31): The next, and probably more important than corn, was wheat. And we all see fields of wheat. This time of year it's green. I don't know when you all are going to see this, but it's spring. And it grows up, and in the summer it turns golden. And then we need to look at ... Here is a single stock of wheat. And the important part of the wheat is the grain that's in here.

Bob Shirley (02:15): But there was one other crop that they grew that was very important to them, and that is tobacco. And we here at the museum, we usually grow, oh, 10 or 12 tobacco plants a year, so we have this to put on display here. And this tobacco was ... Well, it was started well before this last year. As soon as it gets a little bit warmer, we'd put it out in the field, in the ground, wherever our plot will be this year. In the early fall, you cut the plant down, and then you would hang it up like this in the barn. And you hang it up to cure. Not to dry, to cure. You would cure tobacco. Once it's well cured, then they would take it down, put it in a hogshead, which has nothing to do with pigs. It's a big barrel. And roll that hogshead to the harbor in Baltimore.


Asset ID: 8583
Themes: Crossroads, small towns, agriculture, history, farming, living history, museums
Date recorded: 2017
Length of recording: 3:40 m
Related traveling exhibition: Crossroads: Change in Rural America
Sponsor or affiliated organization: Carroll County Farm Museum, Union Mills Homestead, Maryland
More information: See additional stories from Carroll County, Maryland

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