Claude Moore Colonial Farm
Right in the District's backyard is our country's only privately run national park. The mission of Turkey Run is to recreate the life of 1771 tenant farmers. The vast majority of Virginians in 1771 were tenant farmers, who lived by growing tobacco to pay their rent, and growing food to eat. The Claude Moore Colonial Farm property is approximately twelve acres planted with corn, tobacco, wheat, flax, rye, barley, a kitchen garden and an orchard. The fields are tilled, planted and cultivated by hand, applying basic principles of hoe agriculture. Staff and volunteers dressed in reproduction period clothes, work the farm, and answer your questions about the farm, livestock, and family, as if you were actually an 18th century visitor.
Directions : Go North on George Washington Memorial Parkway. Take exit 123 toward Chain Bridge / Mclean (you will see Claude Moore Farm direction sign). Go south on Georgetown Pike and make a right after the CIA entrance on Colonial Farm Road. The farm will be on the left hand side.
Tel: 703-442-7557
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Darlene Dolby works in the gift shop, which is the entrance to the farm.
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Farm volunteers grow and sell heirloom plants offset operating expenses.
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Sign - STEP BACK IN TIME - Follow this path to the year 1771. You will meet a poor tenant family going about their daily chores.
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Deer are quite abundant around the farm. In the 18th century they would be considered game food.
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North view looking towards the tobacco barn. The Claude Moore Farm practices a low traditional agriculture.
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Split rail fence is traditionally built in a zig zag fashion. No nails are used. This fence is portable, so it can be moved.
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Pathway to the tobacco barn.
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The tobacco barn is an open aired structure.
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Fresh cut Virginia tobacco is split at the stem and slid onto a tobacco stick. Grown the way our ancestors did.
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Orinoco tobacco hangs on beams to dry. Orinoco is a tall tobacco with thick textured, crinkly leaves that produces a rich brown pipe tobacco that is a favorite of pipe smokers worldwide.
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A turkey pen and shed is used at the farm to keep out foxes, weasels, and reported coyotes.
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This cock turkey is penned up with two hens.
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Pioneer Farmer, Jan Tilley, is an employee of the farm. I asked Jan how long he has worked on the farm. "I have been working here since the 'French and Indian War." Staff (including volunteers) use "first person" to demonstrate living history.
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This Ossabaw Island hog is a descendant of Spanish pigs brought to the New World over 450 years ago. Claude Moore farm has raised these pigs for 20 years.
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Ossabaw pigs are normally black in color, although they may have alternating black and white spots, or even shades of red and tan.
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