Riley's Farm

Experience a sojourn in America’s past, exploring the great conflict that divided state from state and brother from brother. The vast fields and orchards of Riley’s
Farm, in concert with our skilled staff of Civil War living historians, help your students and family imagine the contours of Civil War life in a way that motivates ongoing study.

Start the day off with a rousing town meeting in which your group must debate the war then decide whether to secede, join the union or stay neutral. All sides will get a chance to argue their point, as you relive the Maryland State Assembly.

After voting in the Assembly, spend time with Confederate and Union soldiers as they teach you about their home states and the issues they face. The Civil War comes to life as you experience activities such as a regiment drill, a visit to the Surgeon’s infirmary, and perhaps a lesson in 19th century etiquette, along with various other posts.

Once finished with all your camp posts, you will be given a soldier’s ration of lemonade, cornbread, cheese, an apple and dried beef. Along with your hearty meal our Packing shed bakery is open for additional food purchases to supplement the ration.

And finally at the end of the day, all your students participate in a large mock battle, reenacting the Battle of Malvern Hill . Fight for your home and land as a Southerners, or uphold the Union and fight to keep the country together as a Northerner. Given the muskets they are drilled with, all students will be lead into battle by one of our commanding officers.

Our first stop after the assembly was seeing what the women folk back home had to do and they had a lot to do with the men gone.  Do housework inside and then keeping the farm going also.

The girls decided they'd do some laundry.  My grandmother cut a vein in her finger when she was a young woman on a washboard.

On to a trial for desertion.  This man was lucky and was saved at the eleventh hour, but others weren't so lucky and they hung and thrown in a coffin quite quickly.  Man, those men were short.  And yes, those are Jory's legs next to the baby.

By the end of the conflict, over 103,400 Confederates alone had committed desertion.

We learned the etiquette of the Southern belles and proper social behavior.  Jory learned the proper way to bow and the girls to curtsey and why gloves were worn.

We visited the surgeon.  You were better off dying in battle than going to see the surgeon, where you more than likely died from a disease then your actually injury.

Before the battle, we got our lunch.  Yep, of cornbread, cheese, apple, dried beef, and lemonade.  Those poor hungry soldiers.  I had to stop at Mc D's on the way driving home because I was so hungry.

Can you say recruitment?

We learned baseball was invented as a way to pass time during the war and how they made soldiers out of common folk.

Preparing for battle...

And the battle is on.  We learned that on some battlefields the weapons were put down and men fought hand to hand because they were fighting their sons, fathers, neighbors, cousins, and friends.

And then the final round up and we were done. We bought Riley's Farm talked about chicken pot pie, which was delicious and we bought the 3lb apple pie, which was also good and very, very apple filled and big.  We had a great time and would definitely come back, even though we had to drive a gazillion miles to get there, drive through a wind warning ( I have never in my life seen a wind advisory warning on the freeway that asked high performance vehicles to get off the roads.  At times I wondered, if I was still in LA or California.).  We had to roll the windows up and turn on the air the noise from the wind was a bit much and the car was rattling from the wind.  Who lives out here?

We took a picture with our very own soldier.



We don't get to go on very many field trips, but it's nice when we can meet up with others and have fun, while learning at the same time.











We left Teddy at Happy's and we hung out, having a grand old time.