The poorhouse is a nearly forgotten institution, but in pre-New Deal America there were tens of thousands of these buildings across the country, in every county and major city, often providing the sole social safety net not only for the impoverished but also for injured veterans, orphans, the mentally ill, unwed mothers, and the elderly.
In this latest film from the Eastern Shore, a researcher at a small museum in rural Virginia explores the history of the property's previous 150-year use as a poorhouse for the area's most needy and vulnerable--and in the process discovers an unmarked cemetery of over 1,000 former residents.