ALHFAM Events

Switch to Calendar View

• FARM Plowing Bootcamp at Island Farm

  • Start
    14 Mar 2026
  • End
    15 Mar 2026
  • Location
    Island Farm, Manteo, NC

  Register

  FARM Professional Interest Group (PIG) Plowing Bootcamp at Island Farm in Manteo, NC

  Registration NOW OPEN 
  

  March 14-15, 2026

  Wanted: Historical farmers desiring to plow! Announcing an opportunity to learn and hone skills pivotal to the story of farming – draft animal tillage. This FARM Plowing Bootcamp will be offered at Island Farm in Manteo, NC on Saturday, March 14 and Sunday, March 15, 2026.

  Given the limited power historically available to farmers, the use of walking plows allowed increases in crop yields that were otherwise impossible. Today, the walking plow remains the strongest icon of food production, communicating sustenance to museum visitors. The ability to present accurate historical farming processes directly relates to our guest’s growing interest in small-scale and local farming, as well as food security. In fact, the ground tilled in this workshop will be used in Island Farm’s community food assistance program.

  
  

  Plowing during an ALHFAM conference Plowing Match. Photo courtesy of Susie Gilmore.

  What you need to know:

  The intensive nature of this workshop requires a limited enrollment of 10 people.

  This bootcamp workshop will allow participants two days of hands-on experience working draft animals to the plow.

  The goal of this accelerated training experience and tight instructor-to-participant ratio ensures the participant leaves with substantive skills, along with the ability to facilitate continued program development at their home site.

  Immediate sign-up is recommended.

  This experience is open to all ALHFAM members interested in learning the intricacies of tillage with horses, mules, and oxen.

  Bootcamps are an ALL IN approach to learning, sharing, and discovering the skills of the past.

  This bootcamp workshop is sponsored by Island Farm, in partnership with the Association for Living History, Farm, and Agricultural Museums (ALHFAM), Skills Training and Preservation Committee (STP) and the FARM Professional Interest Group (PIG).

  The cost for this workshop is $198, which covers all instruction and most meals. Affordable lodging is available nearby at each participant’s own expense.

  Lodging: 

  Island Guest House & Motel
  706 US-6
  Manteo, NC 27954

  252-473-2434

  *We recommend booking lodging as early as possible; mention you are in town for the plowing workshop at Island Farm.

  For more information, contact Ladd Bayliss at 252-473-5440 or email ladd@obcinc.org

  Show details
• ALHFAM 2026 Annual Meeting and Conference

  • Start
    16 Jun 2026
  • End
    21 Jun 2026
  • Location
    Dearborn, Michigan

  
  

  2026 ALHFAM Annual Meeting

  & Conference

  June 16 -21, 2026

  Community, Conflict, Conversation  Hosted by  The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan Conference Venue and Lodging at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan

  ALHFAM’s 2026 Annual Meeting and Conference examines community and conflict in ways that help living history practitioners engage in conversations that facilitate learning and lead to understanding and healing. The Henry Ford, the host institution, is a large museum complex that includes the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, Greenfield Village, and the Ford Rouge Factory Tour. As the largest cultural attraction in Michigan, it is an ideal venue for ALHFAM 2026. Its historical resources document more than 250 years of colonial and U.S. history, from the 1700s to the present. THF's Greenfield Village, one of the largest open-air museums in the United States, will be full throttle during June 2026, having just opened a new historic house: the Jackson Home from Selma, Alabama, from which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others mobilized to secure voting rights for African Americans. “Community, Conflict, Conversation” begins with workshops, grows through presentations and events that engage all attendees, and culminates in conversations that will sustain living history into the foreseeable future. Convening just days before the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence on July 4, 2026, the ALHFAM conference extends these conversations worldwide. ALHFAM 2026 partners include the International Association of Museums of Agriculture (AIMA), the National Collaborative for Women in Historic Sites (NCWHS), Tillers International and local hosts for the Helping Hands and other workshops.  The Student Center at Eastern Michigan University is conference headquarters, where sessions, meetings and other conference events will occur. Lodging will be available in new and refurbished EMU residence halls, and meals will take place in the EMU Dining Hall. Workshops and tours will feature local museums, historic sites, cultural attractions and organizations that support ALHFAM-related work. The site visit day features a signature summer event at The Henry Ford, Greenfield Village’s Motor Muster, and offers opportunities to tour the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation. The Henry Ford also invites ALHFAM attendees to consider joining THF presenters and sharing their expertise during the site visit day. This option requires advance registration (see this page.) Optional: Register to participate in a Motor Muster vignette or pop-up presentation in the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation: Deadline November 15, 2025 Please click on this link to fill out the Google form to register to take an active role in The Henry Ford programming during the site visit day on June 20. You can learn more about vignette opportunities during Motor Muster at The Henry Ford and other opportunities to share your talents by reading more HERE.

  
  

  Show details