We are a living history museum that portrays family life on a small, low-income farm just prior to the Revolutionary War. This authentic representation of colonial agricultural history provides perspective and context for present day life.

Throughout the season, The Claude Moore Colonial Farm hosts 18th century special events, typical of those a farm family would have experienced and enjoyed, including the tremendously popular Market Fairs held in May, July and October.

In addition to the history-based programs the Farm has developed over the years we have a Horticulture Education Program, and the Apprentice Program for children ages 10 to 17.

Self-guided tours and various hands-on group activities are available.

The small professional staff could not provide such an array of programs without the help of a corps of dedicated volunteers. The Farm benefits from thousands of hours of volunteer work and provides unique and challenging volunteer opportunities to the community.

The year 2005 marks the 32nd anniversary of the Farm's founding,

The following history and purpose of the Friends of the Claude Moore Colonial Farm at Turkey Run, Inc., includes the current major programs offered by the Claude Moore Colonial Farm and a summary of the accomplishments and capabilities of the organization.

The Farm has achieved national recognition for its innovative educational programming that uses the 18th-century Farm as an authentic representation of colonial agricultural history to provide perspective and context for present day life. Each year, thousands of students visit this working class farm which recreates the life and times of a family living in northern Virginia in 1771.

Educational Programs and Events  (top)

In addition to the basic self-guided tours of the working Farm, groups participate in a number of highly focused, structured, heavily utilized programs such as the Farm Skills Program. This hands-on educational program features the use of a collection of reproduction period items and sessions in which students produce their own 18th-century artifacts using the tools, materials, processes and techniques of the colonial period.

The popular Environmental Living Program, an eighteenth-century encampment, involves a more intensified experience. Since 1977, this multi-disciplinary, curriculum-based program has offered students the opportunity to learn history, environmental science, and agricultural practices and processes through the cultural laboratory of the 18th century farm. School, scout and family groups make their own 18th-century clothing, plan their own menus and work projects, and then spend three days and two nights living and working at the 18th-century Environmental Living Center at Turkey Run - a true living history experience. These programs have proved so effective that local schools have incorporated large portions of them into their curriculum of studies.

Throughout the season, The Claude Moore Colonial Farm hosts seven eighteenth-century special events, typical of those a farm family would have experienced and enjoyed. On the third full weekend of May, July and October, thousands of visitors join the Farm family and more than a hundred volunteer period craftsmen, entertainers and merchants in an 18th-century Market Fair. On the fourth Sunday in June, visitors help gather and bind the wheat and, in August, help cut tobacco and hang it in the barn to dry. By November, the harvests are complete and visitors help the farm family finish the fall chores, including threshing and winnowing wheat, and making yeast cakes. The winter solstice heralds the Christmas Wassail, which highlights the Farm's apple orchard with dancing and caroling.

In addition to the history-based programs the Farm has developed over the years, there is a new Horticulture Education Program. The Farm had always grown the plant material needed on the 18th century Farm but decided three years ago to seek grant funding to upgrade the greenhouse space and add a teaching facility. Classes of adults and children as well as students in a work-training program from McLean High School now work together learning about production horticulture while producing plants for sale and use at the Farm.

For children ages 10 to 17, there is the Apprentice Program. Children just joining the program work on the 18th century Farm as members of the "Farm Family". They learn skills such as woodworking, preparation of wool and linen for spinning, open-hearth cooking, sewing and food preservation. From their unique perspective they are then able to talk with the children and adults who visit the Farm, about their experiences living on an 18th century farm. After several years of being an Apprentice, the child can apply to be a Peer Leader. If selected, they will take on additional responsibilities that include supervision of younger volunteers and long-term research projects. In addition, these Peer Leaders have the opportunity to enter into Farm staff mentoring relationships and are eligible for internships offered by the Farm. All of the Peer Leaders have used this work experience to enhance their educational objectives.

Volunteer Support  (top)

The Farm could never provide such an array of programs without the help of a corps of dedicated volunteers supporting a small professional staff of seven persons. Behind the scenes, volunteers help with office work, publicity, maintaining the buildings, livestock and crops, repairing clothing, working in the greenhouse, and caring for the Farm's reference library. Fundraising events held by volunteers include the Annual Book Sale, Garage Sales and Plant Sales as well as staffing the Gatehouse Shop at the entrance to the Farm. Adults and children who portray 18th century farmers, artisans, musicians, dancers and merchants belong to the Colonial Company of Turkey Run. Specialized branches of the Colonial Company include the Farm Children, the Musick of Turkey Run, the Colonial Company Puppet Theatre, the Turkey Run Company of Carpenters and Sawyers, the Company of Cooks and Bakers and the Company of Tradesmen. More than 500 of these dedicated individuals and over 70 organizations annually donate more than 20,000 hours in support of the Farm and its programs.

A Public/Private Partnership  (top)

The Claude Moore Colonial Farm was established as Turkey Run Farm by the National Park Service in 1972 under President Nixon's Legacy-in-the-Parks program. When federal budget cutbacks threatened the closure of the Farm in 1980, the community rallied behind Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Senator John Warner (R-VA) to save this popular educational resource. The citizens' group, incorporated in 1981 as The Friends of Turkey Run Farm, Inc., raised the funds immediately necessary to keep the park open as plans were made for the Farm's long-term financial and operational stability.

During the next two years, the Friends successfully negotiated a thirty-year, no-fee lease for the park, matched a generous $250,000 endowment gift from Dr. Claude Moore of Loudoun County to ensure a more stable financial base for the park's operation, and changed the name to The Claude Moore Colonial Farm at Turkey Run. Realizing that the $500,000 endowment would provide only a portion of the operating budget, the Friends planned and raised funds in 1984 to construct a rental picnic facility to earn additional revenue. The Pavilions of Turkey Run, as the new facility was named, offers expanded facilities to the community, and enhances awareness of the Farm and its programs through increased visitation by a larger audience. In 1990, after ten years of successful private operation of the Farm, the Congress, through the National Park Service, provided much-needed help with a $225,000 construction grant to replace the badly deteriorated 18th-century farm house and the maintenance/administrative facilities.

Thirty-Two Years of Service and Growth  (top)

The year 2005 marks the 32nd anniversary of the Farm's founding, and the 24th year that the non-profit organization, The Friends of The Claude Moore Colonial Farm at Turkey Run, Inc., has successfully managed the Farm as the only privately operated park in the National Park system. The Friends' Board of Directors is composed of both elected officials serving in an honorary capacity, and area citizens and representatives of local businesses active in the community. The Executive Committee, which oversees the operation of the Farm and all fundraising activities, includes a President, a Vice President and committee chairs for the following committees: Development, Programs, Facilities Management, Finance and Nominating.

The annual operating budget of the Farm has increased each year from $87,000 in 1982 to more than $400,000 in 2005 due to the increased support of the community and the growing popularity of the Farm's programs. In the past 23 years, more than $2.5 million in private funds have been raised and expended for the operations of the Farm, and over $1.3 million in additional private contributions have gone into capital improvements. Financial support for the Farm's operation during 2004 was generated from the following sources: Admissions, Programs, Sales and Special Events-26%; Fundraising-19%; Grants-34% and Pavilions Rental-21%. The Farm also received over $185,000 of in-kind contributions, including livestock feed, construction materials, landscape services, vehicle and equipment repair, and legal and accounting services.