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Calendar of EventsThe Plantation is open most Saturdays and Sundays, April through November for public tours. A regular day might include a house tour, animal tour, and other activities. About once or twice a month, though, we have extra special events that visitors can enjoy. Those events are listed below. Admission is $10.00 ($6.00 for children ages 4-12) unless otherwise noted. These are just our highlight events--"Friend" us on Facebook to see last-minute additions and seasonal activities! March 26 COLONIAL NEW YEAR / Opening Day April 1 17TH CENTURY TIMELINE Join the Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation as you travel through over 300 years of American history. Come and meet our earliest settlers and then travel to the Civil War on up to the Second World War. The Plantation house will be open for tours and displays.  APRIL 8 MURDER MYSTERY FUNDRAISER The Revolutionary War may be over, but the secrecy has just begun! The Royal Gazette, a local newspaper that ran coverage of the Revolutionary War mysteriously closes shop the minute the war ends. Rumors spread about Agent 726 - a spy living right under our noses with a manuscript of unpublished secrets. The unlikely team of Ben Franklin, Molly Pitcher, Dr. Thomas Bond, Sam Adams, and Madame Brillon must solve this mystery before any more secrets emerge, or the consequences could be deadly! Our friends at Without a Cue Productions will stage their murder mystery "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Death" in the Ridley Creek State Park mansion ballroom from 7:30pm-10:00pm. Tickets are $35.00 for the general public, $30.00 for members. Tickets include wine, non-alcoholic beverages and dessert. BUY TICKETS APRIL 8-9 HISTORIC TIMELINE Join the Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation as you travel through over 300 years of American history. Come and meet our earliest settlers and then travel to the Civil War on up to the Second World War. The Plantation house will be open for tours and displays.  APRIL 15 EASTER EGG HUNT The Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation will host an Easter Egg Hunt at 11:00 am. Children 12 and under are welcome to search the fields of the farm to find eggs with treats and surprises in them. Three hunts, divided by age group, will begin at 11:00 (1-4 years), 11:15 (5-8 years) and 11:30 (9-12 years). There will be a puppet show (Segal Puppet Theatre Company) for young children following the hunts. Pre-registration is strongly suggested to guarantee your child's spot. Families are welcome to stay and explore the farm and see the animals. Admission is $8.00 for adults and children ages 4 to 12. Children under age 4 are free. BUY TICKETS  APRIL 22 & 29 SHEEP SHEARING Come to the Plantation and see three of our rare breed sheep lose their fleece. We will have Margaret Quinn, a master shearer, explain how to shear and then demonstrate by using hand shears. We will also explain how to care for sheep, what they eat, and the advantages of various breeds. Visitors will have an opportunity to card wool. There will also be a chance to learn about our other farm animals including our horses, cow, steers, chickens, pigs and turkeys. There will be hearth cooking, garden, farm, and house tours. Enjoy a day in the country that is very close to home. MAY 13 GIFTS FROM A SECRET GARDEN  On Mother's Day weekend, enjoy a hands-on tour of our kitchen garden and make a gift for the treasured woman in your life. Admission includes house tours, animal tours, and the chance to engage in all of our various farm chores. Visitors will also have the chance to take part in one take-home activity, which may include making bath teas, lip salves, medicinal teas, dyeing a handkerchief, and more (additional activities available at an additional charge.) Wheatstraw artist Linda Beiler will be on hand to demonstrate wheat weaving. MAY 27 SPRING CLEANING Take part in a farm family's annual spring cleaning! With the return of fine weather, see how our farm family whitewashed rooms, did their laundry, restuffed mattresses and more.  JUNE 2 CONCERT FUNDRAISER feat. THE WHITE CHEDDAR BOYS and LADYBIRD Our annual concert fundraiser gets kicked up a notch with The White Cheddar Boys and Ladybird! THE WHITE CHEDDAR BOYS are a contemporary old-time folk band out of Philadelphia influenced by the likes of John Hartford and Woody Guthrie. LADYBIRD is an Americana folk band composed of "three ladies hatched on a front porch, with whiskey under one wing and a banjo under the other." The concert will be held in the Hunting Hill Mansion Ballroom, where the Ridley Creek State Park offices are located. Doors open at 6:30pm. Tickets are $15.00 and include music, snacks and beer or wine. Purchase tickets online or by calling us at 610-566-1725. BUY TICKETS! JUNE 17 FROM HORSES TO HORSEPOWER See how the terms "horsepower" and "strong like an ox" came to be part of our vocabulary as we put our animals to work, and see how the colonial farm family accomplished enormous tasks without the use of electricity or gasoline. JUNE 24 FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR Become an eyewitness to history, as the Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation becomes the backdrop for scenes from the French and Indian War. Watch the local militia led by a Rodger's Ranger as they discover a French raiding party and witness the skirmish which ensues. Visit the French and British campsites. Talk to the soldiers about their uniforms, weapons and strategy for fighting in the wilderness of the frontier. As you take in the action, remember that the French and Indian War determined not only the future of the Pennsylvania frontier but also events that put the loyal colonials on a path to revolution. There will also be a demonstrations of hearth cooking, woodworking, and other everyday activities of the colonial time period. JULY 1 & 4 INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATIONS Hear a reading of the Declaration of Independence, write your own declaration using quill pens, and engage in other acts of rebellion on the farm! Visitors are welcome to bring a picnic basket lunch or purchase refreshments. Reading from Paine's "The Crisis" (12:30 and 2:30) and a reading of the Declaration of Independence (1:00 and 3:00 with burning of King George.) Feel free to pick up a quill pen and sign the declaration yourself.  JULY 8 PIRATES, SPIES AND ROGUES Learn about the nefarious history of the Philadelphia area by engaging in pirate battles, spy missions, and other unsavory family-friendly activities! SEPT 2 BACK TO SCHOOL SCIENCE DAY "Back to School" doesn't mean the fun has to end! Try your hand at experiments like dyeing cloth, churning butter, mixing soap and making candles, decide what it takes to breed "the perfect sheep," meet Ben Franklin and his inventions, and discover the everyday science we take for granted!  SEPT 23-24 CIVIL WAR REENACTMENT The South is invading Pennsylvania again. Witness firearm demonstrations, drills, a burial squad, use of herbs in the 1860s and camp life. There will be a period fashions and displays of civilian life. Battles will take place on Saturday at 12pm and 4pm. Sunday's battle will be at 2. Watch the North try to defend the farm against the invading forces from old Dixie. No visitors are permitted to enter after battle has begun and until it is finished. Admission for this event is $12.00 for adults, $8.00 for children ages 4-12. Reenactment Units and Sutlers, please Click here to fill out your registration form and find out about payment information. OCT 7-8 MEDIEVAL DAYS Come see what life was really like during the Middle Ages in Europe. From the Rome to the age of Columbus, various encampments will portray aspects of Medieval Life. See how six hundred years of European culture thrived and changed. Finally witness the changes that technology made by the late Middle Ages by viewing the 15th century War of the Roses encampments. OCT 21 & 28 LANTERN GHOST TOURS  Our sold-out event returns for its third season! Ghost tours run 6:00pm-9:30pm in timed slots. Space is limited and tickets must be purchased in advance. Tickets for the regular ghost tours are $12.00 each ($10.00 for members.) Ages 10+ strongly recommended. NOV 18 PRESERVATION DAY Winter is coming to the farm. See how a colonial farm family preserved their food and crafted the whiskey, hard cider, beer and wine that they drank throughout the year. Take part in the smoking, pickling, drying and salting of foods and watch how alcoholic beverages are made. NOV 24 BLACK FRIDAY -- OPEN 11:00am - 4:00pm Due popular interest, the Plantation will be open all of Thanksgiving weekend, including Black Friday. We will be decorated for the holidays; visitors will get to experience house tours, farm animal tours, candle dipping, colonial holiday traditions, and more. NOV 26 CLOSING DAY |
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