Are you interested in local history? Would you like to imagine what living in this area was like several centuries ago? Darnall Farm, one of the few area properties that demonstrates the way of life of early 1800's small farm life, is a hidden gem located along Whites Ferry Road (Rt 107) a few miles east of Poolesville on the way to Gaithersburg. The historic complex of stone structures is also reminiscent of a farmstead in Europe or the British Isles. The group of buildings has largely continued in the same style from the time they were built, that of a farmer's dwelling and buildings for processing and storing food, housing the workers, and sheltering animals.
The historic buildings (surviving stone-wing of the house, meat-house, slave quarter/kitchen, and barn) are all constructed of locally quarried red-brown Seneca sandstone. The driveway from Whites Ferry Road goes up a slope into the center of the cluster of stone buildings, then continues north to the dairy barn and original family cemetery. Active farmlands still flank the property on the west and north.
The property has had many owners over the years, starting with Daniel Viers in 1755. After his death, the property was sold to the first of two Dyson families. The initial Dysons owned the farm during the Revolutionary War when George Washington visited the property (1785) and noted its remarkedly fine and level nature in his diary.
Thomas Darnall purchased the farm in 1808 and later built the sandstone structures. Thomas and his wife and five children continued to live on the property until 1857. Thomas and Henrietta Darnell and two infant grandchildren are buried in the sandstone-ringed family cemetery near the dairy barn.
The second Dyson Family arrived in 1857 and lived there during the Civil War and after. During the Civil War (1861-1865) this section of Montgomery County was occupied almost constantly by Union troops, and many Dyson family stories recount the incidents that occurred in this community of Southern sympathizers who often had to reluctantly host the "enemy" (Union forces).
When Albert Sellman became next owner in 1926, the property became a tenant farm. The Allnut family, including husband, wife and ten children, continued to grow crops and work the dairy farm. Between 1943 to 1945, German prisoners of war were transported daily from a prisoner of war camp east of Gaithersburg to work with the Allnuts on the farm.
In 1963 Eugene Casey bought the farm and rented the land to a contract (no longer tenant) farmer. For the first time in their long history, the buildings were no longer kept in repair, nor used for their original purpose.
In 1977 Casey donated the property to Montgomery County and it was originally destined to become an agricultural education center. However, in 1990 the property was sold back into private ownership.
The good news is that an opportunity to visit this historic property is coming up soon. You can visit this beautiful farm during the Countryside Artisan's Spring Studio Tour on April 17-19. During the artisan tours, Darnall Farm hosts Sugarloaf Quilting, with dozens of vibrant handmade quilts displayed and for sale in the 1930 vintage dairy barn. You have undoubtedly passed this property hundreds of times on your drive out of and back into town – now is your chance to stop in and see it for yourself.
Darnall Farm
17615 Whites Ferry Road
Poolesville, MD