Gilmore Farm: A Freedman's Home

Gilmore Farm: A Freedman's Home. . , From Property to Property Owner , George Gilmore, born into slavery at Montpelier around 1810, was emancipated with the Union army's 1865 occupation of Orange County. Soon after, George, and his wife Polly and three children, built a small house from the remnants of Confederate officers' huts and established this farm., By 1873, the Gilmores had saved enough to build the larger cabin that stands today. The 1880 census shows that Gilmore had a mortgage on 16 acres of land held by Dr. James A. Madison, grandnephew of the President. Gilmore gained full title to the land in 1901, four years before his death., By 1910, George and Polly Gilmore's son William occupied the farm with his family. Three generations of Gilmores lived on the farm prior to its sale in 1920., Establishing a Home , The Gilmores established a farm that provided for the family's basic needs, but little more. According to the Agricultural Schedule of the 1880 census, the Gilmores owned:, 1 horse, 1 milk cow, 5 pigs, and 11 chickens. , And farmed: , 2 acres of corn (40 bushels); 3 acres of wheat (6 bushels); 7 acres of pasture; vegetable gardens; and a small orchard., Initially, the Gilmore men worked as farm laborers for others, while family tradition says that Polly Gilmore worked as a seamstress. Sewing items, recovered by archaeologists under the cabin, corroborate this oral history., George Gilmore, Community Leader , In the spring of 1867, during Reconstruction, regional Freedman's Bureau officers were asked to prepare a list of "six of the most intelligent of the freedmen belonging to each county, in whom both races have confidence and who have the mots influence over their own people." George Gilmore was listed among the six identified for Orange County. In addition, Gilmore was noted as: "A saddler - can read and write." It is likely that these lists of "the most intelligent of the freedmen" represented the individuals the Bureau felt were most qualified to hold county or local offices. In September 1865, Gilmore had been asked to deliver a letter to William Scott for the Freedmen's Bureau. Scott held Gilmore at gunpoint and struck him repeatedly, saying that he would not accept a letter from the sender, "or from any other Yankee" - a sign that even as a free man, Gilmore would face challenges., [Caption:] , Archaeological excavations revealed that in the mid- to late-1860s, the Gilmores used the stone and log remains of a Confederate officer's hut to build their first home. Later, in 1873, the stone chimney of the first home was disassembled to construct the chimney for the new (current) home.