10. Button Farm: Hands-on History...

10. Button Farm: Hands-on History Experiment

Rooted Wisdom by Beech Works
E10
Apr 23, 2026
24:42

Episode notes

Off a wooded road in Germantown, Maryland sits Button Farm Living History Center. A project of The Menare Foundation, the 40 acre farm tucked inside of Seneca Creek State Park depicts 1850s plantation life and explores the legacy of slavery in Maryland. Mecca and Menare president, Anthony Cohen, explore the farm to learn more about what makes Button's programming so unique.

This is the first in a series of two episodes that explore Cohen’s work, listen to: Episode 11 | Anthony Cohen: 1996 Walk to Canada to learn more.

The artwork for this episode was created using images from multiple sources. Tobacco flowers, photograph courtesy Beech Works, Inc.; Woman finding tobacco-worms., image courtesy Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, The New York Public Library. Tobacco field, Marjory Collins, photographer., image courtesy Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress, LC-USF34-100365-D.

Transcript available on episode webpage.

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Keywords

Underground Railroad
American history
Slavery
Rooted Wisdom