You are standing in front of a reader rail titled “Window on the Past: Agricultural Decline.” To your left is a graphic panel and artifact case titled “The Brown Family.” To your right is a graphic panel titled “From Emancipation to Jim Crow.”

The reader rail in front of you includes text and one image.

The main text reads:

WINDOW ON THE PAST
Agricultural Decline
Agriculture declined sharply in the area after the Civil War. Persistent intensive cultivation and poor farming practices had exhausted the soil, leaving it eroded and infertile. Local landowners, including the Sellmans, rented out their land to other farmers or let it lie fallow. Many left the state and moved west.

The accompanying photo shows former farmland with the Java Mansion ruins in the background. The photo was taken in a lush, green field on a sunny day.