Button Farm Living History Center

04/27/2024

LETS DO IT AGAIN!

Everything Including the Kitchen Sink Sale

Sunday, April 28, 2024 from 10am-12pm
Button Farm Living History Center
16820 Black Rock Road, Germantown, Maryland, 20874

Join Button Farm for our “Everything Including the Kitchen Sink Barn Sale!” After a barn renovation we are clearing out space and have the knickknacks and farm goods you never knew you wanted!

Items include, but are not limited to, small farm equipment, tools, garden, household, vintage, collectibles and even an old kitchen sink! Come out and see for yourself. Funds raised contribute to the ongoing operations of the farm.

Please check our Events Calendar for info. and updates.

04/26/2024

Everything Including the Kitchen Sink Sale

Saturday April 27, 2024 from 10am-2pm
Button Farm Living History Center
16820 Black Rock Road, Germantown, Maryland, 20874

Join Button Farm for our “Everything Including the Kitchen Sink Barn Sale!” After a barn renovation we are clearing out space and have the knickknacks and farm goods you never knew you wanted!

Items include, but are not limited to, small farm equipment, tools, garden, household, vintage, collectibles and even an old kitchen sink! Come out and see for yourself. Funds raised contribute to the ongoing operations of the farm.

Please check our Events Calendar for info. and updates.

07/24/2023

Button Farm will be closed this weekend, July 30 and July 31, due to predicted extreme heat.

The Almanac Activity at 1:30 to 3:00 pm Saturday, July 30th, is canceled.

06/30/2023

Join us at The Farm this summer!

Check out our summer and autumn programs on our website https://buttonfarm.org/calendar.html

06/22/2023

Heritage Days Weekend Is Coming! - https://mailchi.mp/cc6a54cf340b/22may2023newsletterv2

06/21/2023

I’m always impressed with the drive and determination of minorities to retain their cultures despite all the pressures dominant groups place on them. Here’s a beautiful example.

“The last American slave ship arrived in Mobile, Alabama, in 1860, despite the illegal importation of slaves. On board were approximately 160 West African individuals who had been captured and enslaved. One of the captives, named Cudjo Lewis, was acutely aware of the potential…”

02/02/2023

Adam Goodheart, Director of Washington College's Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, was the subject of a Jeopardy question last night! Hint: the answer is 1861, and the contestant answered correctly immediately!

05/08/2021

Plant sale today at button farm!

05/08/2021

Hey everyone. Farm is finally open for the season. Today Noon to 3pm. Self-guided tour and plant sale!

04/30/2021

Button’s Annual Plant Sale
@ Germantown Flea Market

May 1, 2021 8am-1pm
19421 Walter Johnson Road, Germantown, MD 20874

Button Farm's annual plant sale is back!

We have bell peppers, eggplants, basil, cotton (yes, cotton) and a number of tomato varieties to choose from. All plants have been grown organically.

Drop by our stand at the Germantown Flea Market on Saturday to get your summer garden started.

10/31/2020

Emancipation Day Special Features

Fun for the whole family!
Kids will be able to "trick or treat" through-out the farm.
Join the Becker Band at the campfire for some old-time fiddle tunes which were popular in the 1860s. Have a toe-tappin' and partner-swingin' good time!

See the Sepp Walzer’s Fest Band’s musicians with over two hundred years of combined music performance history. The band enjoys bringing good music to people and helping people learn to properly “schunkel!” The band loves seeing people move to this music and hopes to have you humming along to the tunes you recognize.

Watch Dora, Mona, and Lisa (the hogs) "pig-out" on their fall favorite...pumpkins! It should be a smashing good time.

A variety of vendors will be on hand to sell an assortment of goods (to eat and wear) and provide valuable information. Vendors: Gaithersburg Historical Society, Stargazing Farm, MNCPPC, Bread and Beauty... with more to come!

JUST ADDED: We will also have a new QR code Emancipation Tour that will include the Cemetery walk!

10/31/2020

Emancipation Day at Button Farm

Saturday, October 31, 2020 @ 12-3PM

Celebrate the day in 1864 when Maryland changed its constitution to abolish slavery six months before the end of the Civil War. This outdoor, open-air, event includes an emancipation-themed self-guided tour of the farm and Slave Cemetery accessible by your phone through our QR portal. Scavenger hunts, farm animals, hands-on history and musical acts will help to round out the day.

This is our final Open House weekend for the season at Button Farm. Come and enjoy the fresh air (social distancing/PPE protocols will be in place). Parking is $10 per vehicle. Go to our Eventbrite link to learn more and reserve your parking space today!

10/23/2020

Exploration Weekend at Button Farm
Saturday October 24, 2020 @ 12-3PM

This will be the perfect weekend to come out and recreate. Bring a picnic lunch to the farm and bask in autumn with your family and friends. Or enjoy some of the more than 20 miles of hiker, biker and equestrian trails that begin at our front drive, and wind their way through the 6,300 acre Seneca Creek State Park. Take a stroll down to historic Black Rock Mill, just a few minutes’ walk from the farm, and walk or wade at Seneca Creek on the last of these summer-like days. Parking is $10 per vehicle. All of the activities are SELF-GUIDED and FREE! Check our calendar for this week’s activities https://buttonfarm.org/event/open-house-saturday-4

Activities include our new self-guided tours, farm animals, pop-up gift shop, picnic areas and recreational trail access. Toilet and sanitizer will be on-hand. Socially distancing and mask wearing are required. Access is by reservation only. Reserve your parking pass online before arriving at the fa...

10/03/2020

Hello Friends of Button Farm. The farm is now open for the month of October on most Saturdays from 12-3PM! We have self-guided tours, close encounters with our farm animals, a pop-up gift shop and more. Bring out your bike to ride the many trails accessible from our front drive. Or bring a picnic with family and friends and just relax a while.

Admission is $10.00 per vehicle. Social distancing measures are in place. Please bring a mask and check our website for Covid-19 policies. We look forward to seeing you at the farm! www.buttonfarm.org.

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The historic Button Farm, home to the Menare Foundation, is Maryland’s only living history center depicting 19th century slave plantation life and the heroic story of the Underground Railroad through our unique living history experiences. Situated on 40-acres inside of Seneca Creek State Park in G...

07/11/2019

DRINKS ON THE VERANDA
Saturday July 27
4PM to 7PM
Join us for our second annual Drinks on the Veranda event, following the Montgomery County Farm Tour. Relax in the shade of our wrap-around porch and enjoy a cool respite from the summertime heat. Come with friends and make some new ones. Try your hand at 19th century games, a scavenger hunt, and raffle giveaways. Historical libations, hot jazz and cool bites await.

Discounts on purchase of early bird tickets today at:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/drinks-on-the-veranda-tickets-65010655621?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

07/07/2019

Welcome to the new Chesapeake Tours (CTP) page. Menare recently acquired CTP to provide guided experiences of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway on Maryland's Eastern Shore, along with other heritage tours in the DC metro region.

If you haven't yet visited the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center in Church Creek, MD be sure to stop by on your way to the beach! Or gather a group, and book me as your guide!

05/28/2019

You never know who—or what—might come knocking at the kitchen door at Button Farm.

04/08/2019

Tiny tobacco...tobacco seeds are like grains of sand. If you look closely you can see them on top of the soil. The emerging plants aren’t much bigger...all the more amazing when you think they can eventually grow up to six feet tall!

11/22/2018

A few things pigs are thankful for...roasted pumpkin, a warm pile of straw in the barn and that they are not turkeys. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

11/06/2018

We had a great day on Sunday for our Emancipation Day event which marks the end of our public events at the farm for this year. Thanks to everyone who came out to visit! Enjoy the rest of the season 🍂🍁

10/26/2018

MORE (Mid-Atlantic Off-Road Enthusiasts) kick off their annual Halloween Thursday night ride at Button Farm. For info on their non-profit, go to www.more-mtb.org.

09/26/2018

Discovery Impact Day
Thanks to the volunteers from the Discovery Channel who came out to Button Farm on Friday, September 21 for the annual Impact Day. They did an amazing job, removing three truck loads of weeds and rebuilding old raised beds.

09/22/2018

Bees have come to Button Farm!
This colony of bees had made their home in the wall of the community center at the Warren Historic Site, which was scheduled to be dismantled as part of a larger restoration project. Jim Fraser and his sons from the Maryland Honey Company removed the colony, nursed it back to health and donated the hive body. Now the bees have a new home at another historic site...Button Farm.

07/22/2018

Wow, yesterday's deluge nearly caused our rain gauge to overflow! Just shy of five inches!

06/26/2018

Scenes from last weekend's Heritage Days event at Button Farm. Thanks to Pastor Isler who grilled up lunch for visitors on Saturday, our friends at "Coming to the Table" who conducted a "Circle Process" and Anne Bouie who celebrated a "Ceremony for the Ancestors" at our slave cemetery.

06/24/2018

Wake up sleepyheads. The farm is slowly coming to life this fine Sunday morning. Today is our second day of Heritage Day Weekend. Come out from Noon to 4pm to tour the farm. Try your hand at the 2-person sawing demo. Grind corn to feed the animals. Or bring a blanket and a picnic basket and relax in the shade for a while. Self-guided "analogue" mode today. See ya'll down on the farm!

06/23/2018

Hey folks. The rain ended here overnight! Sun forecast for later this morning. We are on for a terrific Heritage Days Weekend. If you have cabin fever and want to get out of your cave, come on over to the farm from 12-4pm. We FREE have food, tours, and hands-on history. See you on the farm! 🕛😆🐖🍔☀️👨‍🌾👨‍👩‍👧‍👦🕓

06/23/2018

Button Farm is part of Heritage Days weekend. For details on events on the farm and for information on all the other sites throughout the county that are part of this annual event, visit our web page at www.buttonfarm.org.

06/07/2018

Hey folks! Check out the new video for our Drinks on the Veranda event.

06/06/2018

A new generation of our heritage breed Cotton Patch Geese hatched out a few days ago--six in total (two are under the goose in the photo), but there's a second nest, so there might be more on the way!