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Tours of the Historic Barn House and Exhibits at The Clemmons Family Farm

The Clemmons Family Farm offers tours to share the beauty of African diaspora and culture.

TOURS OF THE HISTORIC BARN HOUSE AND EXHIBITS

Join us on Saturdays, 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. for a guided tour of the historic Barn House. The Barn House is actually two historic buildings: a granary and a cow barn, both built sometime between the late 1700's and the early 1800's. Jackson Clemmons joined the two buildings together more than 20 years ago, while he was in his 70's.

Our 2019 tour season features a very special exhibit:

Travels of the Intrepid Couple: Stories, Art and Adventures of Lydia and Jack Clemmons.

This exhibit showcases the hidden story of a remarkable couple and a rare African-American owned family farm in Vermont, and how they helped to build bridges across differences of race, culture and geographic settings for nearly 60 years-- through art, community and a sense of place. The exhibit includes a beautiful collection of art and textiles, panels, photographs and listening stations with audio-recordings of some of the wonderful storytelling of 95-year-old Lydia Clemmons about her travels with her husband Jack, the people they met along the way, and some of unique art from North, West, East, Central and Southern Africa. Jackson and Lydia Clemmons loved to travel to out-of-the-way places. They began their travels together with a 1952 honeymoon road trip from their home in Madison, Wisconsin to Los Angeles, California. Racial discrimination was legal at the time, and most hotels, gas stations and rest stops did not allow African Americans to use their services. The newlyweds did not know about The Negro Motorist Green Book, a travel guide that had been published a few years before their marriage to help African American drivers find safe places to stay during their road trips. The intrepid young couple packed their blue jeans and camping gear into their car and followed Route 66. The couple later moved from Madison to Cleveland, Ohio where Jack attended medical school, and in 1962, drove from Cleveland to what was then the whitest state in the nation-- Vermont-- where they bought a farm and made their home. The couple began work and travels on the African continent in the 1980s, and Lydia established the first African art mail-order import business in the United States on the farm.




Date & Time

Weekly on Saturday

06/22/2019 through 10/19/2019

10:00AM - 11:30AM

Location

Clemmons Family Farm - 2213-2122 Greenbush Road, The Historic Barn House, Charlotte, VT, 05445 2213-2122 Greenbush Road, The Historic Barn House Charlotte 05445 VT US

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