In the days of the small family farm, people used tools and equipment that made life easier, traveled only short distances, and regarded a trip to Baltimore as a major undertaking. Farm products went to market by custom Chesapeake Bay boats, and the Bay served as a major artery for trade and travel. This house was one of 10 to 12 dwellings occupied by Chestertown's small African-American community in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries, and it was restored and relocated to this site in 1974. Kent County farmer John Schauber invented a corn stalk cutter in 1907 that allowed one horse and three or four men to harvest up to ten acres of corn a day. An on-site graveyard served the Stavely family from 1628 to 1840.