Press Release
A large and enthusiastic group of citizens joined Fluvanna County and the Fluvanna Historical Society in dedicating the Fluvanna Farm Heritage Museum Saturday (Aug. 4). This newest addition to the museum complex at the center of Pleasant Grove Park is an attractive barn-like structure designed to house a museum honoring Fluvanna’s farming history.
The museum was a joint project between the local government and the historical society. The museum will house a collection of antique farm equipment donated by local famer, John May, and his family. May and others were instrumental many years ago in convincing the historical society and the county to hold an annual celebration of Fluvanna’s rural past, an event that ultimately became Old Farm Day.
The new museum structure was completed a few weeks before its dedication. It is designed to blend in with the other traditional structures in the center of Pleasant Grove.
The museum was built with money initially provided by Fluvanna County and subsequently by the Fluvanna Historical Society. The project cost slightly over $300,000, of which the society provided $272,000. For many years, 50 percent of the net proceeds from Old Farm Day were dedicated to the farm museum. This is a prime example of the kind of public-private partnership which has been used for so many of the amenities at Pleasant Grove. These include the Heritage Trail, the restoration of the Pleasant Grove House and its summer kitchen, the design and construction of modern restroom facilities near the Pleasant Grove House and the picnic shelters at the Eastern Trailhead. The historical society also played a key role in raising money to establish the new museum in the
Attendees at dedication of Farm Heritage Museum
restored Pleasant Grove House.
It is anticipated that the exhibits in the new museum will be installed by next year’s Old Farm Day on May 4, 2019.
