FCMV Home

The Frontier Culture Museum tells the story of the thousands of people who migrated to colonial America, and of the life they created
here for themselves and their descendents. These first pioneers came to America during the 1600s and 1700s from communities in the
hinterlands of England, Germany, Ireland, and West Africa. Many were farmers and rural craftsmen set in motion by changing
conditions in their homelands, and drawn to the American colonies by opportunities for a better life. Others came as unwilling captives
to work on farms and plantations. Regardless of how they arrived, all became Americans, and all contributed to the success of the
colonies, and of the United States.

To tell the story of these early immigrants and their American descendents, the Museum has moved or reproduced examples of
traditional rural buildings from England, Germany, Ireland, West Africa, and America. The Museum engages the public at these exhibits
with a combination of interpretive signage and living history demonstrations. The outdoor exhibits are located in two separate areas: the
Old World and America. The Old World exhibits show rural life and culture in four homelands of early migrants to the American
colonies. The American exhibits show the life these colonists and their descendents created in the colonial backcountry, how this life
changed over more than a century, and how life in the United States today is shaped by its frontier past.