McCormick Farm
	A five-acre memorial plot at the Shenandoah AREC pays tribute to Cyrus McCormick and the ingenuity of the McCormick family. The memorial area is designated a National Historic Landmark and Virginia Wayside site, and is toured by thousands of visitors every year. Cyrus Hall McCormick invented the first successful reaper and founded the harvesting machine industry. In July 1831, at 22 years of age, McCormick first demonstrated his invention publicly. This, the world's first successful mechanical reaper, opened a new era in agriculture, an age of mechanization that changed life on the farm, altered American advertizing, and made it possible for millions of people to leave the land and enter an industrial society. Visitors are welcome to tour the McCormick farm in Walnut Grove, including the historic blacksmith shop turned museum, grist mill and manor house, which are National Historic Landmarks.
	Visitor Information McCormick Biography Grain Harvesting History Operations Manual for the McCormick Grist Mill Video Clip of McCormick Grist Mill Water Wheel