One of the more interesting places we stopped in the Blue Ridge Mountains was
The Mountain Home Farm.
Set up and maintained by the US National Parks Service,
The Mountain Home Demonstration Farm has authentic original farm buildings that were purchased when the Blue Ridge Parkway was being constructed and moved to this location to demonstrate what life was like on a pioneer farm in the Blue Ridge mountains.
All of the buildings on the farm have signs explaining the use of the building , and Forestry Service personnel are there to answer questions more detailed questions about the exhibits.
Of course most farms shared their services with their neighboring farms rather than attempting to be completely self sufficient. So rather than representing a typical farm, the buildings on the Mountain Home Farm shoe complete collection of buildings dedicated to every aspect of farming that would be represented in the community.
Most did have pigs, or some form of livestock, and those that did not relied on hunting.
and most had a kitchen garden with herbs for medicinal and culinary use.
But some were wealthier and had really large barns and farm plots on very fertile soil
When one considers that all of this building and planting ,( including the clearing of the land and the cutting of trees for the buildings), was generally done by hand and by hand tools, it is truly an impressive accomplishment.
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