Museum of Eastern Shore Life to show agricultural artifacts

The Queen Anne’s Museum of Eastern Shore Life will be open to visitors on Saturday, Oct. 5. The museum’s featured theme for October is recognition of the area’s renowned agricultural industry, which began several hundred years ago.

Many small privately owned farms and many large farms were in existence all over Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and the museum has lots of antique farm equipment on display.

The primary featured item at the museum will be a collection of journals from about 40 years ago, which provides antique photos and stories involving the various types of agriculture that existed all over the United States and Canada many years ago.

The publication is titled “Small Farmer’s Journal” and was published quarterly. Each edition of the journal featured a particular theme for that edition — such as farms with live animals, farms growing fruits or vegetables, etc.

Livestock included animals such as cattle, horses, pigs, goats, sheep and poultry. Dairy farming was quite common, but Delmarva became renowned for its huge poultry industry. Corn has always been the leading ground crop produced in this area.

The museum will be open to visitors from 1 to 4 p.m. on Oct. 5. There is no admission fee, but voluntary donations are always appreciated.

The museum is located at the QAC 4-H Park on State Route 18 at Dulin Clark Road between Centreville and Queenstown.