Claude Moore Colonial Farm, originally Turkey Run Farm, was a U.S. park in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

re-creating and re-enacting life on a

tenant farm A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...

circa 1771. The park closed permanently on December 21, 2018. The National Park Service was subsequently said to be in the process of planning the future of the park and its facilities The Friends of Claude Moore Colonial Farm at Turkey Run Inc., a privately funded foundation, paid for all activities on the Farm, while the land it occupied was owned by the National Park Service. It received only certain maintenance services from the Park Service. The Farm was located in McLean, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C., next to the

George Bush Center for Intelligence The George Bush Center for Intelligence is the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency, located in the unincorporated community of Langley in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States; near Washington, D.C. The headquarters is a conglome ...

and the

Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center is a U.S. Department of Transportation facility located in McLean, Virginia. The center carries out research studies and was renamed after Francis Turner in 1983. It had been known as the Fairbank Highway Res ...

. The mission of Claude Moore Colonial Farm was to recreate the life of tenant farmers circa 1771. The majority of Virginians of that time period were tenant farmers who grew

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

to pay their rent while growing food to eat. By contrast,

Colonial Williamsburg Colonial Williamsburg is a living-history museum and private foundation presenting a part of the historic district in the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has 7300 employees at this location and ...

mainly demonstrates the life of merchants, landowners, and other members of colonial Virginia's upper crust.

History

Originally named Turkey Run Farm when it opened in July 1973 as a National Park Service operation, the Claude Moore Colonial Farm was renamed in 1981 for local land developer Dr. Claude Moore, whose large bequest at the time of his death allowed it to establish itself as the only autonomous site in the National Park system. It took no NPS funding, and operated off of the dividends of its endowment, volunteer-run fundraising efforts, and donations from the public. The Farm operation expanded its facilities over the years. The GateHouse Giftshop was built to replace the old on-your-honor admission fee drop box, and an event deck and the Bounty Garden were added at the front parking lot. After the terrorist attacks of

September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

, a new access road was cut through the upper pasture so that access to the farm office no longer passed through the security gate of the

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

headquarters, near the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

grounds. In 2011, "Chez Puce," formerly the site of the Farm's alternating book and "garage" sales, became a full-fledged used-book store, open Wednesday through Saturday.

Park operations

The Farm was run by a small paid professional staff, supplemented by many volunteers both behind the scenes and in costume. The interpretive staff, including pre-teens and teenagers who portrayed the farm children, demonstrated mid-eighteenth-century farm life, including field work, crafts, cooking, and other activities. Staff (including volunteers) used first-person portrayals to demonstrate

living history Living history is an activity that incorporates historical tools, activities and dress into an interactive presentation that seeks to give observers and participants a sense of stepping back in time. Although it does not necessarily seek to ree ...

and help visitors feel as if they'd stepped back in time. The Farm's heirloom crops and heritage-breed livestock were carefully researched to provide as accurate a re-creation as possible. The Farm cooperated with

Fairfax County Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria and Arlington County and forms part of the suburban ring of Washington, D.C. ...

in providing work-release parolees with court-required employment, which, on a working farm, meant labor.

Recurring events

Musical entertainment at the Market Fair at the Claude Moore Colonial Farm

The highlight of the Farm's year was the Market Fair, held the third full weekends of May, July, and October. The Fair was enhanced by the participation of a cadre of long-time volunteers, including a blacksmith, a cabinet maker, a milliner, an herb and flower seller, a potter, and a chair bodger; and it featured a toy store, a scriptorium, a puppet theatre, chicken roasting, a tavern, and more. Many of the Market Fair participants were members of

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

and other re-enactor groups, and often appeared at other colonial-history events as well. Other recurring events included the annual gathering and threshing of wheat and the annual preparation of the tobacco crop. A colonial

Wassail Wassail (, , most likely from Old Norse ''"ves heill"'') is a beverage made from hot mulled cider, ale, or wine and spices, drunk traditionally as an integral part of wassailing, an ancient English Yuletide drinking ritual and salutation ei ...

, including the blessing of the orchard, was the final event of the season, in mid-December.

Closure

As of December 21, 2018, the Farm was no longer open to visitors.

References

External links