Exchange Place Living History Farm is located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Northeast Tennessee. Once a robust, 2,000-acre farm, producing large amounts of corn, wheat, oats, butter, and pork, the site also served as a stagecoach stop, post office, general store, and currency exchange where Tennessee and Virginia money were interchanged in the antebellum era (hence the moniker “Exchange Place”).
Now a 60-acre open-air museum operated primarily by volunteers, Exchange Place brings the mid-19th century to life for the community. Visitors can see original and reconstructed buildings, walk among heirloom gardens, and meet several heritage breed animals. Festivals throughout the year feature folk artisans and living history demonstrators.
Processing sorghum at the Fall Folk Arts Festival
Teaching the agrarian skills of the past is a vital part of the mission of Exchange Place. The site has a vibrant youth program—The Exchange Place Junior Apprentices—whose members assist with various chores on the farm, from weeding the kitchen garden, to harvesting and processing sorghum, to tending animals. They also cook on the open hearth and make useful tools in the blacksmith forge.
The log kitchen and adjacent kitchen garden
Junior Apprentices in period costume prepare a garden bed with hand-forged hoes
While corn and pork were by the far the most important crops at Exchange Place in the mid-19th century (Tennessee was, after all, dubbed the “Hog and Hominy State” at that time), the agricultural censes indicate that “Irish” potatoes were also being grown, though not in huge quantity: In 1850, 30 bushels were produced, falling to only 6 bushels in 1860. Exchange Place is participating in the 2024 Year on the Field project by growing a small patch of heirloom potatoes in the kitchen garden. They have chosen “Rose Finn,” a pink-skinned fingerling dating to the 1840s and “Green Mountain,” a
white baking potato developed in the 1870s as one of the first blight-resistant varieties. Harvests from these plants will be used in open-hearth cooking and foodways demonstrations.
The potato patch in May – with a "Year On The Field" project description!
The potato patch in June
The Potato Harvest at Exchange Place
Volunteer Heather Gilreath dug the potatoes in early July. From just a 16 foot row – half of which was planted with “Green Mountain” and the other half with “Rose Finn” – in the small kitchen garden, she harvested 11 pounds of potatoes, including 8 pounds of “Green Mountain” and 3 pounds of “Rose Finn.” Only natural soil amendments were used, with no synthetic fertilizers applied. The potatoes looked healthy with no sign of scab or blight, though the “Rose Finn” variety died back relatively early, which Heather suspects might have been the consequence of a very hot and dry June and which resulted in a smaller yield for that variety. The “Rose Finn” potatoes were also notably knobby, probably due to a lack of apical dominance, a common characteristic in this variety and other heirloom fingerlings.
The knobby "Rose Finn" variety
This was the first time Heather has grown the "Green Mountain" variety, which was developed in the 1870s for its blight resistance, and the yield was quite satisfying. Seed potatoes for this variety are hard to find, but a supplier was eventually found—Grant Teton Organics in Idaho. The “Rose Finn” seed potatoes were sourced from Wood Prairie Family Farm in Maine.
The “Green Mountain” variety
The harvested potatoes were displayed at Exchange Place's summer “Farm Fest” event and later distributed to members of the Junior Apprentice youth program to cook at home. Additional potatoes from the same varieties are being stored at Heather’s home and may be used for hearth cooking demonstrations at Exchange Place later in the year.
Both varieties in a harvest basket
