For the third year, the North Carolina Museum of History in downtown Raleigh has created an outdoor exhibit entitled History of the Harvest. When we first reported on this back in April, corn was just being planted. Now, the area is maturing, and Ken Howard, Director of State History Museums, at North Carolina Museum of History explains the variety of crops on display:
“We have a great outdoor exhibit called History of the Harvest. It runs down the side of bicentennial mall. We have things like medicinal and culinary herbs plants, our traditional three sisters: beans, squash and corn, also sunflowers, tobacco, peanuts, cotton, sweet potatoes, dogwoods, blueberries and annuals in the state colors are all planted outside the museum.”
For those uninitiated to row crops, Howard says that all the plantings are labeled:
“We have great signage with all the plants as we know that many people have never seen these plants growing in the field. So we have a lot of signs in front of each bed to explain the type of crop growing and how the crops are used. It’s a great outdoor exhibit.”
Even in an urban setting, the exhibit will provide crop yields, and Howard explains what they do with the product:
“We will crop the plants and use the products. We use the tobacco and cotton in educational classes. The sweet potatoes and other things are given to local food programs.”
With Raleigh’s Independence Day celebrations moved to downtown this year, Howard says it’s a great time to visit the museum and the History of the Harvest exhibit:
“We have a lot of great things happening over the holiday. This outside exhibt as well as many indoor exhibits. We hope that many people will come down and learn a little bit about North Carolina’s history.”
Ken Howard, Director of State History Museums, at North Carolina Museum of History |