A contractual dispute could lead to a change in who runs interpretive programs at Claude Moore Colonial Farm near Washington, D.C./NPS

A window into a living history farm that portrays Colonial life just prior to the Revolutionary War will close at least temporarily in December due to a contractual stalemate between the National Park Service and the friends group that operates the farm located just outside Washington, D.C.

While Friends of Claude Moore Colonial Farm maintains the Park Service is closing the farm for good on December 21, the Park Service at this point is saying only that the farm will close for the winter months as usual and could reopen next year. 

The working agreement between the two organizations expired in 2006 and has been renewed on a temporary basis on a number of occasions since then while efforts were made to reach a long-term operating agreement. 

"On March 5, 2018, the (Park Service) presented (Friends of Claude Moore Colonial Farm) with a final offer for a new agreement that contained standard terms for thousands of (Park Service) partners across the country but that also provided some flexibility to accommodate (the friends group's) interests," said Park Service spokeswoman Jenny Anzelmo-Sarles. "Friends of Claude Moore Colonial Farm has chosen not to accept the terms of the new agreement and is thereby choosing to conclude its relationship with (the Park Service) and discontinue its operations at Claude Moore Farm."

From her viewpoint, Dr. Virginia Norton, president of the friends group, thinks the Park Service's terms are onerous. The group dislikes the 10-year term for the contract and limitations on what interpretive materials can be sold on site and a requirement that the Park Service approve what could be sold. The friends group also suspects that the Park Service "is under pressure from developers, including Fairfax County, to repurpose this land for development.”

Ms. Anzelmo-Sarles said the Park Service wants the farm's interpretive mission to endure, and that the terms the agency offered Friends of Claude Moore were not unusual.

"We value the memories that people have made at the farm, and we will work with the community and the farm’s many dedicated volunteers to determine its future," she said. "A proposed long-term agreement would have required the organization to comply with current laws and policy and included terms that are standard for National Park Service partners along with some flexibility to accommodate the organization’s interests. Although we negotiated in good faith, in the end, the standard terms and legal requirements of a long-term agreement were not accepted by Friends of Claude Moore Colonial Farm."

Alexcy Romero, superintendent of George Washington Memorial Parkway of which the farm is part, reiterated that the Park Service is not planning to close the farm permanently.

"Rest assured that we have absolutely no intention to sell or commercially develop the park land that is known as Claude Moore Colonial Farm. We value the memories that people have made at the farm, and we will work with you, the community, and the farm’s many dedicated volunteers to determine its future," he said. "The National Park Service never had the intention of closing Claude Moore Colonial Farm. All this means right now is that the farm will close as winter approaches, as it always has."

Since 2001 the Park Service has given the friends group almost $1.3 million to operate the 77-acre operation, and has spent "hundreds of thousands of dollars to design a sewerage system for the farm, conducted safety and food inspections, and has shared road maintenance, such as snow-removal, with the friends group," said Ms. Anzelmo-Sarles.

The friends group has sought legislation from Congress to keep the farm operating, and has an ongoing campaign on its website and associated Facebook page to rally public opinion on its behalf.