Christmas on the Farm, an annual holiday tradition at the Agricultural History Farm Park, returns Dec. 7-8, from noon to 5 p.m. Visitors can enjoy holiday crafts, music, barn decorations, hay rides, and free cookies and cider. A bake sale table and the tool museum will also be open. Admission and parking are free.
Located at 18400 Muncaster Road, the 450-acre park offers live farm animals, an apple orchard, and a Master Gardener Demonstration Garden. Pets are welcome if leashed. The event is sponsored by the Friends of the Farm Park, celebrating the spirit of the season.
History of the Farm Park
The Agricultural History Farm Park centers on the Magruder-Bussard farmstead, showcasing a well-preserved example of a late 19th- and early 20th-century Montgomery County farm. It includes a historic farmhouse, barn, various outbuildings, and a modern activity center.
In 1898, the Bussard family built a large frame bank barn with a stone foundation, square louvered windows, and German siding. Frederick County builders assisted in its construction. By 1908, they remodeled the farmhouse into a two-story frame dwelling, preserving its original log and stone foundation.
Other historic structures include a log smokehouse, frame granary, and a water tower relocated in 1998 to replace a demolished one. The farm also has a chicken coop, corn crib, broody house, carriage shed, and hay barracks. These buildings reflect life on a working farm in the early 1900s.
The Bussard family sold the property to Montgomery County in the 1970s, ensuring its preservation as a park. Today, the site offers educational programs, events like Harvest Days, and features a champion Nordmann fir tree with a nine-foot trunk circumference.
Related:
A Guide to Montgomery Nature: Agricultural History Farm Park
