Situated on five wooded acres, the Tobacco Farm Life Museum is a combination of modern exhibit facilities and a restored early twentieth-century farmstead.

The Museum

When guests visit the museum building, a short video in the theater introduces them to tobacco farming. After the movie, we invite them to tour the 4,000 square foot gallery holding a variety of exhibits concerning Eastern Carolina farm life and the communities that thrived from growing the golden leaf.

New permanent exhibits

Cultivating Minds: Education in Rural Eastern Carolina
Through most of eastern North Carolina's history, farmers and rural families felt that some level of schooling was important in order to be a good citizen and productive member of the community. This exhibit highlights the most important changes in the region's education system between 1880 and 1972. These were also the same years that the Brown family occupied their home which is now located on the museum grounds.
Sarah Liles, an intern from Meredith College, completed the research, design, and production of the exhibit during her internship in the spring of 2004. One of her most important tasks was to include new information about both black and white schools in rural eastern Carolina. The resulting exhibit tells a story of hope and betterment for all children in the region.

Traditional Tobacco Growing
North Carolina farmers have grown tobacco since the 1660's, but the biggest boom in production started in 1880 and lasted until the 1990's. Until the advent of modern machinery, farmers relied on hand and mule power to grow the huge supplies of tobacco demanded by the public. This exhibit highlights the days of traditional growing practices and explains the time and care needed to produce the "gold' in the golden leaf.
The exhibit is an update of the earlier "Tobacco Growing" display developed for the museum when it opened in 1984. It now includes a wider variety of photographs depicting a broader range of cultures and additional artifacts. Large items, such as a mule-pulled transplanter, are on display at the Iredell Brown farmstead.

From Chores To Church
The original exhibit "From Chores to Church" went from a temporary exhibit to a permanent display in September, 2003. Along with new text and photographs, the exhibit size increased to include a case dedicated to local textiles and sewing practices.
Visitors may be surprised to learn that Eastern Carolina farm families rarely made their own fabric after 1850. Instead, they relied on inexpensive textiles made locally or recycled fabric like cloth flour bags. The exhibit has several examples of how farm families utilized both, from quilt squares to a bedspread made from sackcloth. To conserve items, some textiles will rotate in the exhibit, but the overall display will remain consistent.

Permanent exhibits

The Tobacco Warehouse
Completed in April, 2002, this exhibit explains the purpose and history of the tobacco warehouse. As recently as 1997, more then 130 warehouses operated in North Carolina. In 2003, however, that number had drastically declined and only 14 warehouses opened for the auction season. Additionally in 2003, computerized bidding replaced the long-familiar tobacco auctioneers and ticket markers. This rapid decline of the state's tobacco warehouses prompted the museum to develop the exhibit before the artifacts, documents, and oral histories disappeared forever.
The exhibit includes items for "drumming up business," weighing and inspecting the tobacco, the auction process, and the cashier's cage where farmers receive their checks. A short video in the exhibit also explains the roles of the people carrying out the tobacco auction.

Community Caregivers
One of the unsung heroes of rural communities is the small town doctor. Along with being the medical expert, he also filled the roles of husband, father, community leader, confidant, neighbor and friend. These men served their communities twenty-fours hours a day, seven days a week. They were known among other things to deliver multiple generations of babies, treat patients at 2:00 a.m. on their back porch, and serve as an emergency veterinarian.
The Community Caregivers exhibit has three main topics: home remedies, rural doctors in general, and Kenly's four doctors who were honored at the 1976 "Doctor's Day." Barton College intern Kelly Ashley developed and created the exhibit under the direction of the museum curator. It opened on July 31, 2002.

The Country Store
Over the years, the museum had slowly acquired several items from area shops known collectively as general stores. These businesses were the main source of supplies and exchange for area farmers, especially in smaller communities. Today, only a few still operate in a handful of rural locations. Most had to close their doors when easier means of travel and "mega-stores" forced them out of business.
The new Country Store exhibit returns the visitor back to days when farm goods could be exchanged for hardware, meat was cut and weighed in front of customers, and cookies were two for a penny. Two rare artifacts displayed in the exhibit are early production Coke and Pepsi bottles, both with paper labels. For those interested in tobacco products, the Country Store exhibit also has many brands of tobacco on display alongside pipes, snuff canisters, and other smoking paraphernalia. The exhibit opened in April, 2003.

Childrens' Heritage Exhibit

Situated in the main exhibit hall of the Tobacco Farm Life Museum is an exhibit dedicated to children of all ages. Built to resemble an old farm house, one corner of the “house” has windows and a shingled roof; the remainder of the raised platform is open.
The Children’s Heritage Exhibit is full of fun, interesting and educational activities for children to explore, including a kitchen area with a real pot belly stove, kitchen utensils, dish tub and wash board. A child-sized wardrobe of period clothing and a work bench laden with kid-sized tools offer unlimited imaginative play opportunity.

Special Exhibits

Several temporary exhibits are shown at the Tobacco Farm Life Museum depending upon availability and corresponding special events.
Call or e-mail the museum for a schedule of special exhibit topics and their show dates.

The Iredell Brown Farmstead

"Great House" and Kitchen
The farmstead behind the main museum is a collection of century-old buildings donated by several people from the local community. The kitchen, house, smokehouse, and milk shed all came from a farm originally built by Iredell Brown in Micro, North Carolina. In 1982, Iredell's great-grandson donated the buildings to the museum. They were relocated to the Kenly site, restored, and now hold exhibits depicting rural Carolina farm life during the Depression era.

Tobacco Barn
The log tobacco curing barn came from another farm and is one of the last remaining in the state. Visitors can look up into the rafters to see how the tobacco sticks were hung, view the wood furnace, and inspect the authentic tobacco carts — both wheeled and sled versions — which were pulled by mules.

Packhouse
The packhouse is the newest addition to the farmstead. It is a reproduction of the general-purpose style buildings found throughout North Carolina's countryside, and represents a farm's general work and storage facility. One room is set up to show how newly cured tobacco was graded and prepared for auction. The other room is a teaching space reserved for group tours and special events.