HISTORY

Heritage Farm Museum Expands Its Storytelling with Blacksmith Forge Exhibit

BY NORMAN K. STYER

The Loudoun Heritage Farm Museum has opened a working blacksmith forge, housed in one of the historic barns at Claude Moore Park. It’s the latest exhibit designed to help tell the story of the county’s rich agricultural roots. Blacksmiths were once integral to farms for making and repairing tools and other farming equipment. According to Census records, there were approximately 80 blacksmiths in Loudoun County in the mid-1800s. Replicati ng a late 1800s/early 1900s forge, the new exhibit was designed by the Blacksmith Guild of the Potomac and constructed by the stone and brick mason class at the Academies of Loudoun. The project was completed in February, but largely has been under wraps because of the coronavirus pandemic, with visits limited to school programs. Executi ve Director Lori Kimball said that once COVID restricti ons are lift ed the museum plans to host live blacksmithing demonstrati ons monthly. A formal grand opening was celebrated in late November.

HERITAGE FARM MUSEUM 15

Contributed Bobby Colicci, of the Blacksmith Guild of the Potomac, works at the new forge built on the grounds of the Loudoun Heritage Farm Museum at Claude Moore Park. He plans to be onsite for monthly demonstrations once public health restrictions are lifted.

Norman K. Styer Among the most popular pieces in the American Workhorse Museum Collection is the dog treadmill once used to power equipment.

HERITAGE FARM MUSEUM

“We have a whole bunch of blacksmithing equipment that was donated to us, include a fabulous leather bellows,” Kimball said, highlighting the large air blower that is marked with the name Laycock, a longtime Loudoun farming family. In fact, there are lots of familiar names featured throughout the museum. Farming was the chief industry in Loudoun through most of its history, until the construction of Dulles Airport brought the extension of public water and sewer service—and the first wave of residential development—in the early 1960s. Permanent exhibits highlight the lives and accomplishments of 10 generations of Loudoun farm families; allow visitors to step into a general store, a farm kitchen and a one-room schoolhouse; and tell about the Native Americans who lived in the area. The American Workhorse Museum Collection, also housed on the property and open by appointment, displays scores of tools used to plant and harvest crops before tractors hit the fields. Among the most popular pieces there is the dog treadmill once used to power equipment. The museum is located at 21668 Heritage Farm Lane within Claude Moore Park in Sterling. Currently, it is open during the week by appointment and for self-guided tours on weekends.

For more information, go to heritagefarmmuseum.org.

Credit: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum A U.S. Navy Blue Angel F/A-18C Hornet, piloted by Cmdr. Frank Weisser, arrives at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center on Nov. 18. The aircraft was added to the museum’s collection following its retirement by the Navy at the end of the 2020 season as the demonstration team moves to the larger Super Hornet.

Udvar-Hazy Center Adds Blue Angel Hornet to Exhibits

The Smithsonian’s Nati onal Air and Space Museum has welcomed a Blue Angels F/A-18C Hornet into its collecti on. The recently reti red fi ghter jet was fl own to the museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center where it is being prepared for display. “The museum’s collecti on of this important aircraft will allow us to tell stories of the Navy’s Flight Demonstrati on Team, as well as its ti me in combat,” said Laurence Burke, the museum’s naval aviati on curator. For the Blue Angels, the Hornet has been the featured show aircraft for 34 of the team’s 75 years of existence—more than twice as long as any other aircraft type. This F/A-18C replaced the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk as the Blue Angels’ aircraft at the end of the 1986 season. The specifi c display aircraft was one of the fi rst C models built, delivered to the Navy in 1987. It was assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-86 and fl ew during Operati on Desert Storm, the First Gulf War in 1991 and then with VFA-83, helping to enforce the no-fl y zone over southern Iraq in 1994. The plane served in eight diff erent squadrons, seeing service in both the Atlanti c and Pacifi c oceans as well as the Mediterranean and Red seas before being turned over to the Blue Angels in 2015. It was acti ve with the team unti l the end of the 2020 season when all of the legacy models were reti red, as the team moves to Super Hornets next season. Located on the southern part of the Dulles Airport property, the Udvar-Hazy Center displays thousands of aviati on and space arti facts, including the Space Shutt le Discovery and a supersonic Concorde. The museum has seen periodic closures and access restricti ons during the COVID-19 pandemic. Check airandspace. si.edu/udvar-hazy-center for more informati on and to plan your visit.