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1. SUNLIGHT breaks over the stately farmhouse and whitewashed buildings of Muscoot Park, and for a moment the
visitor feels as though he has been thrust back in time. But the children frolicking in the pastures are dressed in
synthetic fabrics, and they peer at the antique farm equipment with curious eyes.
“Dad, what is that?” asks a frecklefaced youth, staring at a tiller with as much disbelief as if it were an exhibition of
dinosaur bones.
Back in the fields, the laughter of school children on tour through an acre of six‐foot‐high corn reaches a high
pitch. “Wow, popcorn!” shrieks one youngster with an exuberance that carries the length of the field. “I never knew
it started like this!”
Incidents like these gladden the hearts of the Muscoot staff and distinguish the park here as one of the few
publicly maintained “demonstration farms” in the Northeast.
On Saturday, to celebrate the harvest, Muscoot Park is sponsoring its second annual Old Fashioned Farm
Octoberfest. Intended to “demonstrate traditional farm activities at harvest time and held the day before the park
closes for the winter, the Octoberfest will be an exhibition of farm crafts, foods and activities such as
apple‐dunking, nail‐driving, wood‐whittling, hogslopping and pumpkin‐painting.
“We feel that its important for kids to learn that butter doesnt come from store and that honey doesnt grow in
jar,” said the park director, Frank Schultz. “Thats really our purpose here —to teach Westchesters children and and
their parents about farming and food production, and to serve as a resource center for people with home
gardens.”
Purchased by Westchester County in 1968, the Muscoot Park Interpretive is the site of an 800‐acre estate owned
by a gentleman farmer, Ferdinand Hopkins, during the late 19th century. Once intended for use as a county golf
course, the farm was saved from destruction at the recommendation in 1974 of County Executive Alfred B.
DelBello and the Muscoot Advisory Board, who suggested that the property be turned into an “interpretive
teaching center” and “historical preserve.”
Today Muscoots Victorian barns, mansion house and outbuildings are being restored as a turn‐of‐the‐century
farm.
The farm, now in its third season of operation, exudes a comfortable charm that appeals to young and old alike.
The large hay barn on the property, for instance, contains the original feedtransporting equipment and
steamdriven hammermill used to grind grain for the livestock, while another section of the United States of Freight
Heavy Haulers building houses a collection of 19th‐century carriages and sleighs. Farther down the road stands
the old ice house, complete with the saws, tongs and sleds used to transport ice back from the pond. Old‐style
ecology too, is demonstrated by the use of an antique manure spreader, which, Muscoot staffers are fond of
telling their audiences, distributes “natural fertilizer” from the dairy barns down to the field.
There is also a large collection of farm animals, including Nubian goats, Belgian horses and a Scottish Highland
bull. Chickens run hastily down dirt paths in search of grain, and from time to time the rusty wheeze of a donkey
or the impertinent call of a rooster breaks the silence of a tranquil afternoon. A special feature this year has been
the addition of an “animal nursery,” where newborn calves, pigs and other livestock are stabled.
The farms real strength, however, lies in its teaching exhibitions. “Today everyone, even the farmer, is highly
specialized,” Mr. Schultz explained, “but in the old days the farm was a diversified economic unit, able to provide
quite well for most of the needs of the family.” To illustrate this concept Mr. Schultz has hired a group of farm
craftsmen who demonstrate the farm activities that traditionally occurred on the farm at different seasons of the
year.

2. For a moment the visitor feels as if he has been thrust backward in time
In autumn, for example, Sharon Moskow, who “does everything the farm wife would do,” is busily canning
produce and making jams and jellies from Muscoots demonstration gardens. On one rainy Sunday, she
demonstrates an old‐fashioned pickling technique. “I use the old crock and rock method,” she tells a group of
interested observers, “and it really does taste better.”
“Here,” she says to a skeptical‐looking man, as she opens a jar of breadand‐butter pickles, “try one and see what I
mean.”
On the other side of the farm, down past the chicken houses, a blacksmith, Bill Fitzgerald, is busily hammering
away at a horses hoof. “Why do you have to do that to the horse?” asks a young girl. “Doesnt it hurt him?”
“Itll hurt the horse more to walk without shoes,” Mr. Fitzgerald explains. “Why, just look at this old piece of hoof I
cut off—its hard, like your toenail. On the farm they used to collect and feed it to the chickens to make the shells
on their eggs harder.”
Other craftsmen like the tinsmith, Lucy Sargent, or Mike Pinello, a leadedglass expert, demonstrate the work done
by the farmer and his family during the winter months. “There wasnt much he could do outside,” Mr. Schultz
explained, “and winter was the perfect time for the farmer to repair broken machinery, make new household
gadgets and cooking utensils, and get the insides of his buildings in order.” Other exhibits presented regularly at
the farm include sheep‐shearing, woodworking, quilting, dried‐flower arrangements, wool dyeing and
candlemaking.
In preparation for winter, many of the fields that contained crops earlier in the season have already been cleared
and planted for alfalfa, timothy and clover. Other fields, resplendent with vegetables, fruits and berries, are now
being harvested and have found their way to the farmhouse kitchen. “Its amazing how many people with home
gardens come here to ask for advice or learn about better growing techniques,” Mr.
Schultz said. He added that during the growing season the farms staff purposely planted several different varieties
of each crop so that visitors could “see it on the vine rather than just on a seed packet.”
“After all,” he said, “you cant just drive up to a commercial farm and ask them if you can look around. Thats why
we feel Muscoot is so important.”
Open from 10 to 4, the Muscoot Park Interpretive Farm is on Route 100. The phone number is 232‐7118. ■
The New York Times/Joyce Dopkeen
Its about that time, Halloween, that is, and at the South Side Boys Club in New Rochelle, members went into the
basement‐where else?‐to try and capture some of the quality of the event. The occasion is under the auspices of
the Wildcliff Natural Science Center. The legs‐as if you didnt know‐are those of a mannequin.
The New York Times/Pete Silver
Watching the blacksmith, one of the favorites of visitors to Muscoot Farm
The New York Times/Pete Silver
Paul Lohner, director of programs and services for Westchester County, at Muscoot Farm