I work at Virginia's Explore Park in Roanoke in the 1850 farmhouse.  I grow heirloom varieties of vegetables that were from the time period.  I get most of my seeds from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and Shumway's.  If you do a search on the Internet for these companies, their addresses will come up.  

An excellent book that you might want to look at would be American Gardeners Calendar by Bernard McMahon.   It was published in 1806 and discusses many of the old varieties.  Also check out, Thomas Jefferson's Farm Book  and Thomas Jefferson's Garden Book.     A couple more that I use as references are Taylor's Guide to Heirloom Vegetables by Benjamin Watson and  American Gardens of the Nineteenth Century by Ann Leighton.

If I can assist you further, please let me know.
Kimberly Burnette-Dean
Lead Historical Interpreter
Virginia's Explore Park
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  Date:    Wed, 1 Dec 2004 08:34:57 -0500
From:    Harriet Welch <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: 19th Century Crops

An 1850s Court Days Festival is being planned for Harrisonburg for next
June. Our local Farmers Market will be participating and is interested in
growing vegetables that would have been available back then to sell at the
festival.

I'm looking for any information or resources that would tell us what was
popular back then and would probably have been sold/bartered during Court
Day. Any help would be appreciated.

Harriet Welch

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