Shortly after constructing his first reaper he went on to harvest his first crop with it later that year. Cyrus McCormick reportedly designed, built, and tested his reaper all within six weeks at Walnut Grove, although the design may have been merely an improvement upon the similar device developed by his father and his brother Leander over 20 years. The McCormick Farm at Walnut Grove is known as the birthplace of the mechanical reaper, the predecessor to the combine harvester. The McCormick family also maintained a school on their property for neighboring children. Refrigeration was not introduced until the late 19th century. Behind the brick manor house was the smoke house where meat was dried and smoked to preserve it through the winter. The manor house is centrally located on the farm and was constructed of brick in 1822, making it the first building on the McCormick farm. Furthermore, the carriage house was used as a garage for the carriages and other wheeled vehicles. Slave quarters served as the home for the forty one slaves that the McCormick family owned. The blacksmith shop was used to build and repair all the farm implements needed by the McCormick family and was where Cyrus McCormick engineered his reaper. The grist mill, built prior to 1800, was used to grind wheat for flour. Each of these different buildings played a specific role in the daily routine of the Cyrus McCormick farm. In the original construction of the farm there was also an ice house which was demolished in the 1960s. The eight existing buildings include a grist mill, blacksmith shop, slave quarters, carriage house, manor house, smoke house, schoolroom, and housekeeper's quarters. On the farm eight out of the nine original buildings are still standing, many of which have been renovated since the farm was created in 1822 by Robert McCormick (1780–1846). The farm originally covered 532 acres with buildings centered on a scant 5 acres. The blacksmith shop was where McCormick built his reaper. History View from southeast: blacksmith shop at left, grist mill at right. The museum has free admission and covers 5 acres (2.0 ha) of the initial 532-acre (215.3 ha) farm. state of Virginia, and is currently a museum run by the Virginia Agricultural Experimental Station of Virginia Tech. The farm is near Steele's Tavern and Raphine, close to the northern border of Rockbridge and Augusta counties in the U.S. Cyrus Hall McCormick improved and patented the mechanical reaper, which eventually led to the creation of the combine harvester. The Cyrus McCormick Farm and Workshop is on the family farm of inventor Cyrus Hall McCormick known as Walnut Grove.
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