National Park Service Planning ‘Next Chapter’ of Claude Moore Colonial Farm

The National Park Service is once again putting together plans for Claude Moore Colonial Farm in McLean.

Details are still vague on what the park service plans to do with the location. A public comment period and an open house planned for Thursday, April 25 is the first news about future plans for the location since the site was closed late last year.

“The National Park Service is preparing for the next chapter of the Claude Moore farm area of Turkey Run Park, and you are invited to help shape the park’s future,” NPS said on its website. “On April 25, the NPS will launch a public planning effort and invite the public, community, and former farm volunteers to share their vision for the park’s future.”

Since the early 1980s, a private group — the Friends of Claude Moore Colonial Farm — had maintained the park as a working exhibition on life in an 18th-century farm.

But sparring between NPS and the Friends of Claude Moore Colonial Farm over the last few years on issues related to how much oversight and control NPS should have over the property led to the farm’s closure in December and the ongoing removal of antique farming equipment.

NPS has stated that the land will not be commercially redeveloped.