Claude Moore Group Wants to Keep Farm Property Out of National Park Service Hands

The Friends of Claude Moore Colonial Farm want the McLean park to be maintained as an olden-style farm, but they’re starting to recognize that they might not be the ones to do that.

In a press release, the group said that the National Park Service offered to take ownership of buildings remaining on the property and built by volunteers, but the group is holding out in hopes that another volunteer organization can step up and take ownership of the buildings.

The Friends of Claude Moore Colonial Farm was forced off the property last year when a long-running dispute over oversight resulted in the NPS reclaiming management of the property and telling the operators of the colonial farm to leave.

Since then, the Friends of Claude Moore Colonial Farm have been in the process of removing the farm equipment and dismantling the buildings.

“It is the Friends’ wish that these structures, valued at nearly $1.8 million and delineated below, be preserved for any future group seeking to revive the Farm at that site,” the group said in a press release. “The Friends would donate these structures to that group. The Friends are asking for input from the community on this issue and also asking them to contact the National Park Service directly about this.”

One of the buildings at the site was built with federal funding and belongs to the park service. Other structures, however, were built by The Friends of Claude Moore Colonial Farm.

The National Park Service is currently in the process of deciding what to do with the property. There are a wide variety of options proposed, maintaining the farm as a colonial style recreation is one of those being considered. Now, Friends of Claude Moore Farm is hoping to use the existing buildings to help sway the public, and the NPS, toward that option.

According to the press release:

Other structures, such as the Pavilions, the Farm House, the Environmental Learning Center, the Blacksmith Shop, the Facilities Barn, Book Shop, greenhouses, livestock and storage buildings, Market Fair Grounds, Caretaker’s cottage and the Gate House were built entirely with non-federal resources, materials and volunteer labor.

The Park Service has asked us to demolish and remove some of the structures, such as the Market Fair stands, and asked us to donate to the Park Service other structures perceived as potentially more valuable. In previous public statements and correspondence, the Park Service has stated that the Farm could re-open under new management and under their rules; and we believe that these structures, which were an integral part of the life of the Farm for many years, would be useful to any future groups seeking to revive the Farm. The value of these structures funded and built by the Friends is almost $1.8 million as shown on our 2017 IRS Form 990.

It took us a year to get the Park Service to recognize the value of the physical contributions to the Farm made by donors and volunteers, and now we are reluctant to do as the Park Service asks without the input of volunteers and the community, and we urge everyone to make their views known about the future of the Farm, and its buildings and facilities.

The group also announced in the press release that they would be rebranding as Colonial Markets and Colonial Fairs, Inc. While the organization is currently without a permanent home, the press release noted that the group hopes to continue operating colonial farms and markets in Virginia.