The museum was opened in the late 1960's with one log building, the General Bunch House, on a two-acre plot. Now it has grown to 65 acres, including dozens of authentic log structures, a large Display Building, an extensive Craft and Gift (and Antique) Shop, an Auditorium, and the popular Appalachian Hall of Fame Building. It was the founders intention not to develop a cold, formal, lifeless "museum." Rather, he aimed for the "lived-in" look, striving for, above all else, authenticity. It was his goal to make the Bunch House, the Arnwine Cabin, and all the other dwellings appear as though the family had just strolled down to the spring to fetch the daily supply of water.

Visitors can experience life in the 1800's in this reproduction village where animals roam freely.