Claude Moore Colonial Farm

Are you ready to go back in time? Then visit Claude Moore Colonial Farm!
Ironically located next to the CIA HQ in McLean, this charming private funded National Park educates visitors on the daily life and agriculture of an 18^th century Virginia family farm. Not only do staff and volunteers dress up in colonial garb, they’re also always in character. Any question you ask them will be responded to in character. While they’re at the farm, they portray family life by planting crops, gardening, feeding livestock, salting fish, washing/​drying dishes, and other responsibilities of a low-​income farm prior to the Revolutionary War.
What attracts and keeps people coming back to this colonial farm is the authenticity of the portrayal of colonial agriculture and the participation between the staffers and visitors, especially children. Very educational and hands-​on. For instance, this past weekend was the salting fish demonstration. The farm family scaled, gutted, cleaned, and salted their yearly catch of perch. In addition to learning about this process, visitors were encouraged to participate. I saw lots of kids scaling the fish, and it was a great hands-​on, informative activity.
The Gatehouse gift shop is the entrance of this colonial farm, where you can purchase admission and shop around. On your way to the farm, you can see turkeys, geese, and hogs. There were lots of chickens roaming around the farm too. While the whole farm took only about 20 minutes to explore (30 – 45 for us since we lingered at the salting fish demo), it’s unique and a great family activity especially for the kids.
Regular admission is $ 3 for adults and $ 2 for kids (kids under 3 are free).

His farm is a hidden gem I wish it was more advertised. We stumbled upon it after going to the park across the street. It is next to the CIA building. There was so much to do like holding chickens looking at pigs, and having geese follow you around. We learned so much from the settlers there. They even gave us little potted plants to take home for free. They had a delightful store that sold beautiful Christmas ornaments and trinkets. We will definitely be coming back here again.

I had a fabulous time here on a recent icky humid morning. You enter from the gift shop into the 18^th century. The 18^th-​century family and the farm itself allow you to immerse yourself in this simple yet hard time in history.
Claude Moore Colonial Farm is a faux-​farmstead staffed by people acting as in-​character historical interpreters. They behave as if they are the characters and any question you ask will be answered in character. Often, the people have brought their own children with them so you see them acting as a true family with people in a variety of roles and duties from tending to the animals, harvesting or planting crops, tending the kitchen garden, or mending/​making clothes.
To get the most out of the experience, you have to interact with the costumed interpreters. Be sure to reference the map given to you when purchasing the tickets so that you don’t overlook an area. There are no signs or written information so it can be easy to bypass something fun like the pig sty or the chicken coop.
We loved seeing all the animals and experiencing such a peaceful setting in bustling Northern Virginia. We will certainly be returning.

Cool to see how people lived in colonial times. Not a very big park but overall a good couple hour excursion.

Ok, so in my opinion this place is a mixed bag. The «1771 farm» part is quite small, consisting of two structures, about 8 – 10 people in character, 3 geese, a few turkeys, 2 bulls, and some chickens. This will take about 10 – 20 mins to tour. The Market Faire part is only on select weekends in the summer and is kind of cool with food/​drink from the period, as well as about 7 – 10 tents selling some tots/​baskets/​soap/​teas, ect… Definitely a good idea if you’re up for something different. Know before hand:
-$ 6.00 cover per person. I wouldn’t pay the cover unless it was Market Faire weekend.
— Arrive early. The market closes at 4:30, so I wouldn’t bother going if I arrived later than 2:30.
— Buy a piece of the butter cake, it is yummy.
— Good for kids, less interesting for adults.

Can’t believe I never reviewed this place before … too focused on restaurants I suppose. We’ve been coming here for years for the Market Fairs that take place 3 – 4 times a year over a weekend. We especially love the ones in spring and fall as the weather tends to be nicer then. Unfortunately, we’ve been coming almost every year that my older one is a bit sick of it at this point. But the place is just so serene and relaxing with all the woods and the farm house with its vegetable garden and fields of corn and tobacco. A few farm animals are present. The Market Fair is pretty neat with all the people dressed up in period clothing (1771 is the year that this farm is frozen in time). It’s a living museum basically that aims to preserve the spirit and character of the farm and life in 1771. They try to be as authentic as possible to give visitors a sense of what a market fair in colonial America would have been like. Food, games, entertainment, vendors of various trades etc. And for us as parents this is a great opportunity to show our kids — who might otherwise never get to see — what life in the old, old, old, old days was like. It’s old even for us the parents! There’s a shop that card and spin wool into yarn (they let the kids try their hands on carding the wool and spinning too!), there’s a blacksmith — smithing away, a woodworker making furniture the OLD way, seamstresses etc. In this age of machinery and large scale factories our kids would never know how hard it was to do everything yourself from scratch. And just the skill and artistry of handmade stuff … there’s just no comparison. The open fire rotisserie chicken and sausages alone are worth a trip to the market fair for. There’s an open air «pub» that sells ale, hard cider etc. and you can even get pickled eggs and other odd British-​type ale accompaniments. Definitely recommend a visit if you’ve never been. I believe that they are open to visitors certain parts of the year besides the Market Fairs but I’ve never been to Claudemoore for anything but the market fairs so can’t say what it’s like at regular hours.

I love the Claude Moore festivals in the summer and fall. The food and entertainment is outstanding.

This is a great place for families with kids. We visited during the Spring Faire. (Faires occur one weekend during the Spring, Summer, and Autumn.) Our 6 year old didn’t want to leave and was disappointed when it was closing time even though we had already been there for three hours. There are a lot of crafts for the children to do, games to play, food and trinkets to buy, and performances to watch. The volunteers are costumed and very knowledgeable and helpful. The prices on the crafts were in the $ 1 to $ 2 range, with several free games to play in the children’s activity area, and the food ranged from 50 cents to $ 5. Food offerings included roasted Rosemary Chicken, Pork Sausages, fresh fruits and vegetables, lemonade, and various cakes and cookies. Overall, I felt that the experience was a great value for the amount of money we spent.
A visit to the farm would be especially great for elementary school children who enjoy learning about history.
There are volunteer opportunities for adults and children beginning at age 10.

We visited during the market faire. It was crowded, but still a good time. They really have it set up for families. But anyone without kids would have a good time too. It’s a nice time to visit, because they have extra volunteers on hand in period costumes to answer questions.
My four year old daughter enjoyed spending a two bit piece (50 cents) on a piece of bread and cheese. She also purchased some glass beads from a sailor/​trader set up at a table with his hard tack (yuck) and various international goods. She also enjoyed the root cellar behind the farm house since it was nice and cool. My toddler enjoyed visiting the animals (geese, turkeys, chickens, pigs and sheep) as well as the general atmosphere of the farm
Walking around the farm is easy. Most of the paths are wide and easy to walk and you can walk through the entire farm in less than ¾ mile. If you visit, make sure you ask lots of questions and/​or comment on what you see. The volunteer actors are full of information and are ready to share.

Loved the heirloom vegetable gardens, people working the farm in period clothing (1771), even authentic animals from this time period. This is a great place to take the kids (especially younger ones). It’s not too big that the kids are going to get tired of walking. They can help navigate the map and decide where they want to go throughout the farm. The gift shop has some fantastic soaps and the woman who does they buying is very knowledgeable. There’s a small admission: $ 3.00 for adults, $ 2.00 for children (aged 3 — 12) and seniors (60+), but if you have a National Parks Pass, you can use that to get in free. Oh, they can even stamp your National Park Passport. The next Market Fair is July 16 & 17. It looks like something that would be a lot of fun.