Try The New
Oakley Cabin AR Experience
A premiere collaboration between XR Montgomery and Montgomery Parks
Bringing History Alive!
Welcome to Oakley Cabin, African American Museum and Park
Located in historic Brookville, just north of Olney Maryland, Oakley Cabin was once part of a larger plantation called Oakley. It was originally established during the late 1700’s by Colonel Richard Brooke, who was a Quaker within the community.
Oakley Cabin was originally built between the 1830’s and 1840’s, of hand-hewn oak logs with a stone foundation. It initially housed enslaved laborers. But after Maryland’s emancipation in 1864, it became home to free Black tenant families.
This cabin was home to anywhere from three to ten people at any one given time. It is also one of three cabins located within the area.
Oakley Cabin is important to us today because it serves as a reminder of what life was like during this reconstruction period immediately after Emancipation. It provides for us examples of the achievements and the challenges faced by these freed families.
What Is XR Montgomery?!
XR Montgomery uses Extended Reality (XR) technology to create a new way to discover history and interact with the world around us.
XR technology includes Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality (MR). AR shows digital elements over the real world. At Oakley Cabin, visitors will be able to use their smartphones to see the AR digital elements with the real cabin in background on the phone screen. VR often uses a headset to show a fully digital experience. MR is between AR and VR – it has interactive digital elements over the real world. You might use special glasses like HoloLens to pull digital object closer to you or break it apart with the real world in the background. Together, AR, VR and MR are called Extended Reality or XR. And that’s how “XR Montgomery” got its name.
XR Montgomery was created by the Montgomery County Department of Technology & Enterprise Business Solutions (or TEBS) to create more XR experiences throughout Montgomery County. Mitsuko Herrera serves as the XR Montgomery Program Director and also serves as the Program Director for Montgomery Connects, Montgomery County’s digital equity program.
How Can the Oakley Cabin AR Experience Help the Community?
This is the first AR Experience deployed at any historical site in Maryland and our goal is to expand access to the community.
The cabin is open between April and October on two Saturdays a month. That provides only 14 days a year for people to experience it with Montgomery Parks interpretative staff. The Oakley Cabin AR Experience will be available every day, in seven languages. It provides the ability to see inside the cabin for those with limited mobility. And it provides a fun new way for young and old to understand the history of the cabin and the lives of those who lived there.
University of Maryland's School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation – Historic Preservation Program used laser scanning and photogrammetry to take thousands of photos to create 3D models and fly overs. Montgomery Parks contributed its cultural, historical, and archeological research. And TEBS’s XR Montgomery brought AR technology and accessibility to the project.
Together, this provided a model to create new ways to explore history throughout Maryland.
What is the Oakley Cabin AR Experience?
The Oakley Cabin AR (Augmented Reality) Experiences provide a new way to discover African American history.
Eight different AR experiences have been created for Oakley Cabin. Visitors will use their mobile phone to scan QR codes throughout the park (using the camera or a QR code reader). A webpage will load to select one of seven languages. Scannable written versions of all audio are available for accessibility.
Visitors can see a 3D park interpreter avatar providing history of the cabin (QR#1) and a flyover video recreating the historical surroundings of the Oakley cabin community (QR#2), as well as 3D models of the cabin interior (QR#3) and exterior and foundation of the missing third cabin (QR#8 and QR#6). A new interactive park interpreter “AI Shirley” has been added (QR#9) to answer questions about Oakley Cabin. Artifacts found are shown in QR#6. And finally, interactive games to learn about history have been created (QR#4 and QR#5). Each experience includes information about Oakley Cabin’s cultural history and science of archaeology.
See for yourself!
Scan the QR Codes below or click on the images to discover a new way to experience history! These codes are designed to be used in person at Oakley Cabin with the real world park as the background. However, we have created the QR codes below to allow you to try the Oakley Cabin AR Experiences from anywhere. Below are photos that you can click on to display over your computer screen, and then use your smartphone to scan the QR code and have the digital elements appear over the photos. Or you can view these experiences outside. Experiences #3 and #4 are best viewed using any real world outdoor area.
Meet Shirley!
Meet Shirley, your AI Tour Guide!
Meet Shirley, your AI Tour Guide!
Hi, I'm Shirley, your AI tour guide!
Scan or click on the QR code to launch an artificial intelligence (AI) tour guide who can answer questions about Oakley Cabin African American Museum and Park.
Introduction
Flyover
Cabin Interior
Exterior Living Area
Field Area
Third Foundation
Artifacts
Archaeology & Technology
News and Awards
Augmented reality experience brings Black history back to life at Oakley Cabin in Maryland (WJLA ABC7 Washington DC, Feb. 25, 2025). Mult-media story exploring the lives of the people who lived at Oakley Cabin and providing an in-depth tutorial about how to use the Oakley Cabin AR Experiences.
AR Turns Oakley Cabin Into a Living Museum (NBC4 Washington DC, Feb. 21, 2025). What visitors can expect when visiting Oakley Cabin and the AR Experiences.
Oakley Cabin African American Museum and Park AR Presentation (XR Symposium July 11, 2024)
Technical presentation and PowerPoint of the Oakley Cabin AR Experiences to the XR Symposium hosted by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab.
Augmented Reality at Oakley Cabin Wins NACo Achievement Award Press Release (June 20, 2024).
UMD Researchers Bring Maryland History Alive Through Augmented Reality (WJZ CBS News Baltimore, June 19, 2024). A brief story explaining how the Oakley Cabin AR Experiences were created and how visitors can use them.
Montgomery County Museum Modernized with new Technology (DC News Now, June 11, 2024)
A summary of Oakley Cabin and in-depth coverage of the AR Experiences at Oakley Cabin.
Montgomery Parks Debuts Augmented Reality Experience (MoCo Show, June 3, 2024) Background on the launch of Oakley Cabin AR Experiences.
Digital History Symposium Presentation and PowerPoint (February 27, 2024) Launch event for the Oakley Cabin AR Experiences describing what they are, how they were created, and how they can provide a new way to discover history.
Have questions or news to share about Oakley Cabin? Contact Mitsuko Herrera at Mitsuko.Herrera@montgomerycountymd.gov
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