The Frontier Culture Museum plans to move the American Exhibit to its new home on the New World site this Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (December 12, 13, & 14).  The first building to move is the American house, followed by the barn and the spring house.  All structures will be moved intact by Expert Movers, the same company that moved the Hatteras Lighthouse.  Please plan to attend this special event.  A more precise time schedule will follow. If you have questions, please contact the Frontier Culture Museum at 540-332-7850.

When you visit the Frontier Culture Museum during the next several months you will see several temporary signs entitled "Museum of the Move" describing the exhibit developments visible around the museum. Of particular interest in December, the museum will literally "pick up" and move intact a prominent exhibit to its new home near the pond visible along George M. Cochran Drive, the museum's entryway.

The American Exhibit, constructed in the early-19th century by German descendent John Barger, has welcomed patrons since the museum opened in 1988. It represents a period of Valley history when the cultures that settled the region had lived side-by-side for several generations.

When the museum created its long-range master site plan in 2002 it envisioned two distinct collections of exhibits representing the Old World and America, with the latter developing on the museum's expansion site between its parking area and Richmond Road. The various American exhibits will interpret the settlement and development of the western frontier.

The American Exhibit will become the second exhibit to occupy the museum's expansion site, joining the late-18th century Bowman House dedicated in 2005. In time, the museum will augment the America exhibits with an American-Indian encampment, an early-American fortified homestead, and an early-American hamlet.

The ground on which the American Exhibit currently rests will not sit idle very long. Shortly after the move is complete the museum will prepare the site for its upcoming West African exhibit. It will join the German, Irish, and English farms in interpreting the primary Old World cultures that settled the Valley of Virginia.

The relocation of the American Exhibit, to be undertaken by the same firm that moved the Cape Hatteras lighthouse in 1999, will be a marvel of modern engineering. Please visit the museum's web site and watch your newspapers for events and other opportunities to experience this move for yourself.

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Harry Baldwin and Bill Shuey begin the move the old fashion way by pulling the 1850 meat house with their teams of horses.
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Museum On The Move Photo Gallery