the history center interprets the period when enslaved labor shaped the landscape and modern agricultural technology had not yet been developed . This unique project revives the sensory experiences of the 1850s to provide a tactile understanding of slavery and the lives of enslaved Marylanders .
Visitors play an active role in the daily operations of the farm by helping cultivate crops , trying their hand at a trade , or helping out with plantation-era chores . The heritage breed animals program helps preserve local , historical livestock types , and heirloom vegetables and herbs are grown as part of an edible history lesson . The farm ’ s premier program interprets the story of the Underground Railroad , and was designed to prepare Oprah Winfrey for her role in the film , Beloved .
THE FARM : Originally established on a 270-acre land grant patented in 1767 , the farm now rests inside the 6,300-acre Seneca Creek State Park and is part of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources ’ Resident Curatorship program . Dubbed “ Barren Hills ,” this tract has seen more than two centuries of ownership and is now home to The Menare Foundation , Inc ., a nonprofit preserving the legacy of the Underground Railroad . The farm features a farmhouse , barn , museum garden and animal pens , along with a suspected slave burial ground .
AMENITIES : The farm is open seasonally from April-November . Activities include living history tours and events , school programs , recreation and trails , a general store and rest rooms .
n BLACK ROCK MILL in Seneca Creek State Park 16500 Black Rock Road • Darnestown ( Open during park hours )
“… my occupation being to superintend the farming operations , and to sell the produce in the neighboring markets of Washington and Georgetown …”
“ Gradually the disposal of everything raised on the farm , the wheat , oats , hay , fruit , butter , and whatever else there might be , was confided to me , as it was quite evident that I could , and did sell for better prices than any one …” ~ josiah henson an enslaved montgomery county man and later , as a free man , the founder of the dawn community in canada
THEME : Farming , mills , day work , and rural Black communities .
BACKGROUND : This area was dotted with mills and quarries . The mills used the abundant waterways for power and the quarries relied on veins of local stone . Mills were also gathering places for the local communities where workers and farmers often shared the news of the day . This created the opportunity for Black farm laborers to exchange information , learn news of the larger world , and stay connected with local happenings .
After the Civil War , men from nearby African American communities along Black Rock Road and nearby Brownstown often took jobs at flour , lumber , and grist mills . Work at the mills included unloading raw materials , operating milling equipment , and packing products for shipment . Pay for these jobs often supplemented seasonal income earned from farm labor .
THE MILL : Maryland grain was milled into baking flour at mills like Black Rock . Some of the wheat flour ground at Black Rock was returned to the farmer or sold locally to bake bread but the majority was packed into barrels and sent to seaports like Georgetown and Baltimore for export around the world .
AMENITIES : Interpretive panels in the mill and Seneca Creek State Park hike and bike trails .
Pictured above : Black Rock Mill ; left : Dickerson Mill .