Kaleigh Weickert, curator of the Kings County Museum, says many people would be surprised to learn how recently poor farms existed, and how deplorable the living conditions were…. She said municipal institutions known as poor farms and poor houses didn’t begin to disappear until the introduction of modern social welfare programs. She was taken aback that although she has always called Nova Scotia home, she had never heard about them. Above: The Horton Township Poor Farm in Greenwich. The facility operated until the 1920s.