Museum on Main Street Tour 2021-2022: Crossroads: Change in Rural America
Save the Date: December 4, 2021 to January 9, 2022 - VT/Reynolds Homestead to host "Museum on Main" --Introduction/Welcome to Crossroads: Change in Rural America. Hosted at the Patrick County
Chamber of Commerce/Creative Arts Center, 334 Patrick Avenue, Stuart, VA.
? Sliding or flip-up panels explore different aspects of rural ife that experienced great change over the past century.
Welcome to rural America, a crossroads of change in a vast land. American Indians who were already
here, those who came in search of a better life, and people who were forced to move all contributed to
the development of rural America.
Throughout the 19th century, the majority of Americans lived in rural areas. They built their lives around
the work of harvesting what the land could produce—the food, fuel, fiber, ores, and minerals crucial to a
growing nation. They built communities at rural crossroads—small towns that became centers of
commerce, politics, and culture.
But conditions favorable to robust rural communities changed. Early in the 20th century, growing urban
populations shifted economic investment and political influence from the counties to the cities. Since
then, the pace of rural change has accelerated.
Today, rural communities are at a new crossroads—a meeting point of ideas where they can chart their
own future. With their innovations and creative spirit, rural Americans are helping to define and shape
the future of the country.
Subtitle: Where people meet, ideas interest, and change is constant.
---Credits: Crossroads: Change in Rural America is a Museum on Main Street exhibition developed by the
Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.
Brought to you by the [state humanities council]. Funded by the U.S. Congress. [State] programming is supported by [state partners].
