This Day in Henrico History: Oct. 14 – Meadow Farm exhibit opened in 2000

On October 14, 2000, an exhibit examining the lives of three generations of women at Henrico’s Meadow Farm opened to the public. Called “Head of Household: The Sheppard Family Women at Meadow Farm,” it explored the experiences of Elizabeth Mosby Sheppard, Mary Glen Crenshaw Austin Sheppard and Virginia Young Sheppard.

Research historian and guest curator Nancy Knight developed the accompanying historical essay from family papers, journals, account books, receipts, legal documents and personal correspondence. The county’s history staff republished that essay in its Fall 2023 Henrico History Progress newsletter, preserving the exhibit’s exact opening date.

The three women married into the Sheppard family, raised children and helped manage the farm. Each was widowed in midlife and did not remarry. After their husbands’ deaths, they assumed greater responsibility for household and farm operations and for family finances.

The records also illuminate the legal and social constraints imposed on women in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Marriage could severely restrict a woman’s control over property. Family wills and trusts shaped what each widow could own or manage, while the operation of Meadow Farm relied in part on enslaved labor.

The exhibit offered a different way to tell the history of a property often discussed through its male landowners. Meadow Farm Museum, at Crump Park in Glen Allen, continues to interpret the experiences of people who lived and worked on the property, including the Sheppard family and enslaved African Americans.

Sources: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Henrico-History-Progress--Fall-2023.html?aid=KFBf_lZEDOU&soid=1107062676367; https://henrico.gov/rec/places/meadow-farm/