Button Farm becomes 'haunted plantation'

GERMANTOWN, Md. - Button Farm in Germantown is an authentic 1850s farm which sits on 40 acres inside Seneca Creek Park. This weekend and next, it becomes a "haunted plantation," providing both scares and history lessons for visitors.

For years, historian Tony Cohen had studied the Underground Railroad, but in the spring of 1996 he made a decision to experience it. Cohen traveled the secret network used by escaped slaves by foot, boat and rail from Sandy Spring, Md. to Amherstburg, Ontario in Canada. Two years after this 1,200 mile journey, Cohen made a second trip to, tracing the route slaves took from Alabama to Canada.

"Between my first walk and the second, Oprah Winfrey contacted me," Cohen says.

Oprah wanted his help in preparing for her role as a slave in the movie "Beloved."

Cohen decided to teach by immersion. He "blindfolded her, transported her to an old farm in Maryland, changed her into slave clothing, and had her work on that farm as though it was the year 1850."

As a result, Cohen says the actress had an epiphany.

"She actually changed the format of her show back in 1997 to 'Oprah's Angel Network' and the 'Choose Your Life' award. For her, it was about using that experience to bring about change in the present."

Cohen's Underground Railroad journeys and association with Winfrey led to the formation of the Menare Foundation, under whose auspices Button Farm was founded.

"Menare takes its name from a pass code once used on the Underground Railroad. According to Arnold Gragston, a former slave who was interviewed for the Federal Writer's Project in 1937."

Button Farm keys its educational programs to the Montgomery County School system's elementary and secondary curriculum, and works with other school systems by request.

"I think it gives young people a great perspective," Cohen says.

"We live in an almost instant world, where anything that we want can be gotten at any time of the day or night."

A century and a half ago, people slept when the sun went down, ate according to season, canned foods for use in the winter and tended animals year round. If a fence was needed, farmers had to build it themselves, out of wood or stones on the property.

"It's an eye-opener for students," Cohen laughs. "Many of them, upon coming out here and doing plantation chores, frequently say, 'Wow, I have it easy. I only have to clean my room.'"

As Button Farm becomes the "Haunted Plantation," it will continue to teach history as it scares its visitors.

"There won't be any people jumping out of the woods with chain saws, but maybe two-man saws and axes, perhaps?"

There will be an area called "The Devil's Playground," as well as a haunted garden and house.

"We're going to convert one of our barns into what we call 'Blind Man's Barn,' so it's a blindfolded sensory experience. Our old wooden barn is actually being converted into a slave ship," Cohen says.

There, he says, visitors "will get a sense of the journey from the old world."

A non-scary area for the youngest children will feature face painting and 19th century games.

"It's good clean family fun," Cohen promises.

Visits to Button Farm are usually free, but there is a $20 per car charge for this event.

"Shove 15 people in your car -- they should all be in seatbelts! It'll be the cheapest date you'll find, for Halloween."

The "haunted plantation" will be open 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Oct. 23 and 24 and Oct. 30 and Oct. 31.

On the first weekend in November there will be a Fall Festival. Next year, the Menare Foundation hopes to continue renovations and plans to stock Button Farm with what Cohen calls "heritage breeds," animals that would have been common on Montgomery County farms in the 1850s.

For more haunted house locations, click here.

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