Working
Farms

Immerse yourself in an actual setting of 19th-century farm life.

Daily Activities at Working Farms

While there are no scheduled activities today, be sure to see our complete activities listing for upcoming offerings.

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The soul of 19th-century America comes alive, with wagons, livestock, and fields of ripening vegetables in scenes right from the nation’s agricultural revolution. With living history presentations, you can see how people lived off the land.

Highlights

Wrinkly Merino Sheep

Popular 19th-century Breed

 Feature Greenfield Village®  

Wrinkly Merino Sheep

Wrinkly Merino Sheep, a popular breed among 19th-century wool producers, are bred at the Firestone Farm. It took Greenfield Village nearly 25 years to breed this specific type of sheep! Every spring, shearers at Firestone Farm carefully navigate blade shears to remove each sheep’s thick fleece – a process that can take several hours as they shear around each wrinkle.

 

Firestone Farm Demonstrations

1870s farm life

 Feature Greenfield Village®  

Firestone Farm Demonstrations

Working with a late 1870s coal stove, we cook and bake Midwestern recipes with Pennsylvania-German influences. Depending on the time of year, you may also see demonstrations of pickling and early canning procedures.

 

Working Farms

Check out some of the sights you'll enjoy first-hand when you journey through the Working Farms district in Greenfield Village. 

Firestone Farm

This mid-19th century farm includes fields, a working barn, animals, and cooking demonstrations.  

A Day's Work

Barns stored animals and equipment needed on the farm.  

Working the Fields

Farm work is managed using traditional equipment.  

Farm Animals

Cows are kept on the farms in Greenfield Village.  

Wrinkly Merino Sheep

Sheep provide the wool that is spun into cloth and made into clothes.  

Sheep Shearing

Each year the sheep are sheared for their wool.  

Life on the Farm

Poultry was an important food source in early America.  

Laundry Day

Laundry was washed by hand and hung out in the sun to dry.  

Harvesting Food

Working in the fields to harvest food at just the right time was part of farm life.  

Cooking at Firestone Farm

Watch as a traditional mid-day meal is cooked and eaten.  

Soybean Lab Agricultural Gallery

This 1929 building housed research on how agricultural products could aid industry.