ABSTRACT
Nebraska’s outward appearance—its landscape—is dominated by human activity. Cultural landscapes reveal much about the people who were instrumental in their formation. Perhaps most important of the cultural forces that have shaped the landscape is agricultural technology. Farmsteads are the center of farm operation. A typical farmstead includes a house, a garage, a partially utilized bam, several buildings for livestock, and so on. Since 1950, the so-called ranch house has dominated rural house construction in Nebraska. The nineteenth-century frame barn remains a common structure on many Nebraska farms, particularly in the eastern two-thirds of the state. The largest farmsteads are found where operations are most diversified. In Nebraska this includes the corn and livestock regions of the eastern third of the state. Rural communities consist of more formal organizations, including churches and schools. Rural cemeteries are found across the countryside, many of them still well maintained.
