Preservers of the Historic Ma & Pa Railroad
Preservers of the Historic Ma & Pa Railroad
Tax assessment records from 1798 show the existence of a 65'x22' bank barn at Muddy Creek Forks. This is plainly not the barn that exists today, however, it is likely that it stood on this same site. The date of construction of the current barn is not known, but it appears on the earliest photographs of the village. A. M. Grove owned 160 acres in the creek bottom at Muddy Creek Forks and in the hills surrounding the village. The hillsides above the town were largely cleared for farming, and the area behind the stone house which is now covered with pine trees was a fertile field. Grove employed two Afro-American families who farmed the land and performed general labor around Muddy Creek Forks. They lived in houses where Muddy Creek Forks Road climbs out of the valley on the west side of the creek. At least one of the houses was built by A. M. Grove.
Members of the Grove family also helped with the farm work when additional hands were needed at harvest time. The low village land between the railroad and the creek was planted with corn and tobacco, the tobacco being hung to dry in the barn. The upper fields were planted with corn,wheat, and hay. A portion of the back of the barn has been enclosed, but originally it was undercut on the lower level, which contained animal stalls.