Since our early settler days, farming and agriculture have been essential and significant social, political, and economic activities in Beaver County.  Outside and away from of our noted industrial and urbanized river towns, farming and agriculture has endured, if not flourished in many ways.  Farming and agriculture have not only defined our county’s rural geography, but also rural culture throughout our the rolling hills and valleys touching upon West Virginia, Ohio, and our surronding four Pennsylvania counties.

As we clearly demonstrate in our digital public history project, Appalachian Beaver County, local farming and agruculture have been historically and culturally significant in shaping our county’s unique Appalalachian identity–a blend of urban and rural, industrial and agricultural. And for the past several decades, all these boundaries have been converging on suburban Beaver County. We think local historians should pay closer attention to these shiftng boundaries, documenting their movements for the historical record. If not, future generations might not fully understand how and why once productive family farmlands and pastures have now become suburban housing tracts and shopping centers.  It’s up to our local historians to capture, preserve, and share these stories.