George Gilmore, born enslaved on the Montpelier plantation about 1810, gained freedom with the Federal occupation of Orange County in 1865 and, with his wife Poly and their three children, established a small farmstead near the plantation where he had been enslaved. Over time, the family purchased 16 acres from Dr. James A. Madison, grand-nephew of the President, and three generations lived there before the property was sold in 1920. The cabin and farm show the African-American transition from slavery to freedom and the family's hard-won success in buying land, building a home, and creating new lives after emancipation. The reconstructed layout of the 16-acre farm is based on the 1880 agricultural census, 1937 aerial photography, and recent archaeological surveys. In 1880, the family owned one horse, one milk cow, five pigs, and 11 chickens, and farmed 12 acres, with two acres in corn producing 40 bushels and three acres in wheat producing six bushels, while the remaining seven acres were probably planted in vegetables and fruit for the family and fodder for livestock. The farm met the family's basic needs, but little more. In 2002, archaeologists discovered cobblestone surfaces in the yard along with Confederate Army artifacts, suggesting the surfaces may have been built as part of the 1863-1864 winter camp, and a camp hut may have served as the family's first home after emancipation before they built their cabin in the spring of 1873. By the time of a 1920s photograph, George and Polly Gilmore had died and their son William lived on the farm with his family, having enlarged the home with a one-room frame addition, planted an orchard, and kept bee hives. As citizens and landowners, George and Polly passed the achievements of their hard work to their children, helping them build more successful lives. Artifacts recovered from beneath the cabin floorboards, including glass beads, buttons, straight pins, and safety pins that fell there during the first 30 years of the family's occupation, support family tradition that Polly Gilmore worked as a seamstress and dressmaker, and they reflect that earning cash for necessary supplies was the responsibility of every family member. In 2001, Gilmore descendants helped archaeologists excavate inside the cabin and recover hundreds of beads, pins, buttons, and other items that had slipped between the floorboards.