George Washington Carver today remains one of the nation's top scientists, a man who devoted his life toward the study of agriculture and farming. At the Tuskeegee Institute in Alabama, he worked with the famous Booker T. Washington and continued his work till his death in 1943. He is best known for finding more than 300 ways to use the humble peanut but he also made major contributions to American agriculture.

Although his life as a scientist is showcased at the George Washington Carver National Monument in Missouri, his humble origins are also remembered. The monument is located on the site of the former George Carver farm and the birthplace of young George Washington Carver.

Carver was born a slave and as an infant he was kidnapped by night riders during the last years of the Civil War. Although his mother was never recovered, the infant was returned to the Carver farm and the Carvers raised him - and his brother Jim - like their own children.

George was a delicate boy and he spent a great deal of time in the woods that bordered the prairie farm. Those woods became his botany lab as he grew up and when he was old enough, he left the farm and walked many miles to Neosho, Missouri so that he could get an education at a school for black children.

By then, Carver's George (as he was called at the time) was well known in the vicinity as "The Plant Doctor". During his time in Neosho, Aunt Mariah Watkins, a local midwife, suggested that he take the name George Carver. He later added Washington to honor the nation's first president and to avoid confusion during his college years when another student was also named George Carver.

After attending school in Neosho, Carver went on to attend high school in several Kansas towns and then continued on to finish college. He worked his way through college and after graduating from Iowa State Agricultural College, he became the college's first black faculty member.

He might have remained there for the remainder of his career but he responded to an invitation from Booker T. Washington to join the faculty at the Tuskeegee Institute in Alabama. Carver spent almost fifty years there and found his fame.

In addition to finding so many ways to use peanuts, Carver is also responsible for helping farmers in the impoverished South learn to rotate crops to save the soil, for developing some of the nation's first agricultural extension programs, and creating the Jesup wagons that visited farmers at home in the field.

In addition to finding new uses for the peanut, he also find ways to use sweet potatoes, soybeans, and other plants.

He did not find nationwide fame until 1921 but soon after his death in 1943, President Franklin Roosevelt began creating the George Washington Carver National Monument near Diamond, Missouri on the site of the Moses Carver farm. This monument was the first national monument dedicated to someone who was not a former President and the first for an African-American.

The monument opened in 1953 and has remained open ever since. In 2007, a brand new expanded visitor's center opened with extended exhibits, labs, hands on activities for children and much more. The two story center provides a look at many of the actual artifacts from Carver's life, photographs, a film about Carver, a diarama of the cabin where George and his brother lived with the Carvers, and more.

The new Discovery Center has state-of-the-art labs, a recreated schoolroom where children can look at books from the past or draw on chalk boards, feel fur, identify plants, and listen to Carver's voice. Kids can also conduct radio interviews and have a lot of fun as they learn.

A .7 mile walking trail through the woods leads past the site where Carver was born. A statue of the young Carver in a quiet glen is one of the favorite spots on the trail. As the trail meanders through the Ozark woodland, it leads over bridges to the 1881 Moses Carver farmhouse. Although Carver never lived here, he did visit Moses and Susan Carver, his foster parents in this house. The trail leads to the Carver family cemetery where several of the scientist's siblings are buried along with members of the Carver family.

The trail ends back at the Visitor's Center. Each September, the annual Prairie Days celebration offers an even closer look at Carver and his times. Wagon rides, historical re-enactments, demonstrations of old-fashioned crafts and more are all part of the day - and it's free!

The George Washington Carver National Monument is also free and open every day of the year from 9am until 5pm, closed only on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

It is located 2.5 miles southwest of Diamond, Missouri on CR V. Diamond is located between Joplin and Neosho in the extreme southwest corner of Missouri.