The Claude Moore Colonial Farm is hosting fun, educational and affordable activities before the summer is over. The farm is a living history museum and 18th century working farm in McLean. It recreates how colonists lived and worked right before the American Revolution. Knowledgeable staff and volunteers are on hand in costume and in character to bring the year 1771 – a pivotal time in American history – back to life for you.
- Help Harvest a Tobacco Crop: Saturday, August 18
Tobacco was a vital cash crop in Colonial Virginia, used when harvested to trade for other goods and services. Help the Claude Moore Colonial Farm family and their neighbors clean the tobacco leaves, gather the cut plants and hang them on sticks inside the Tobacco Barn to cure. Participatory event takes place Saturday, Aug. 18 from 1 to 4 p.m. Great family and group activity.
- Visit the Colonial Farmhouse and See the Farm Wife and Children Prepare a Mid-Day Meal: Wednesdays through Sundays
Take a self-guided tour to the one-room colonial farmhouse to experience everyday life in late 18th century Virginia. See the large working hearth, hanging flax for spinning into linen, root cellar, chicken coop, apple orchard and more. The farm wife and her children will be busy tending the vegetable garden and preparing dinner, the hearty mid-day meal. Ask them questions and join in the preparations.
- See Heritage Breed Animals: Wednesdays through Sundays
Heritage breed animals are those that display characteristics of the animals that lived in Colonial America. When you take a self-guided tour at the Claude Moore Colonial Farm you can see: Ossabow Pigs and their Piglets; Bronze Turkeys and other wild turkeys; Chickens and Roosters – a variety of colorful breeds. Staff can explain their history and how they help sustain the working Farm.
- Choose a Book for Fall Reading: Wednesday through Saturday, 12 Noon – 7 p.m.
Browse in a cool, comfortable traditional bookstore at the Claude Moore Colonial Farm to your heart’s content. Thousands of titles organized, mostly hardcover, all donated. New titles arrive weekly. Take advantage of the summer sale: 50 percent off fiction and kids books. You may also see Mr. Little Kitty and Sgt. Rusty Pepper, two book-loving cats.
The Claude Moore Colonial Farm is open Wednesdays through Sundays, from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Admission: Adults: $5; Children: $3; Seniors: $3; Children under 3 free. Free parking. All proceeds benefit privately funded and operated National Park.