50 Years of Growth – June ’26

Rooted for Centuries: Growing for Generations

Over 328 Years of Farming. 50 Years of Public Purpose

As America marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Queens County Farm Museum offers a powerful reminder that our nation’s history was not shaped only on battlefields or in legislative halls. It was also lived in fields, farmhouses and communities where ordinary people continued to work, adapt and endure through uncertain times.

For more than 328 years, this land has remained an active working farm. During the American Revolution, Queens was under British occupation for much of the war. The families and laborers who lived here, including enslaved individuals, continued planting crops, caring for livestock and sustaining the farm despite shifting authority, disrupted markets and the constant pressures of wartime life.

There was no defining battle fought here, and no monument erected to a singular Revolutionary moment. The historical significance of Queens Farm lies instead in its continuity. The land itself is the record. Generations continued to cultivate it through war, urbanization, industrialization and the extraordinary transformation of Queens from a rural county into one of the most diverse urban communities in the world.

That same spirit of continuity gave rise to Queens County Farm Museum five decades ago.

In 1975, our Founder and President, James Trent together with local preservationists, volunteers and civic leaders recognized that this irreplaceable landscape could easily disappear. Their work, in partnership with the State and then the City of New York, protected the farm from development and established a nonprofit organization dedicated to keeping it active, accessible and relevant. They did not preserve Queens Farm as a relic or freeze it at a single moment in history. They preserved it as a living, working place with a public purpose.

Today, Queens Farm is many things at once and that is precisely its strength.

We are a public park with 47 acres of open space in a city where meaningful contact with nature is increasingly precious. We are an education center that welcomes tens of thousands of schoolchildren each year, giving many their first opportunity to plant a seed, meet a farm animal or understand where food comes from.

We are a working farm that grows approximately 40,000 pounds of Certified Naturally Grown fruits and vegetables annually, helping feed New Yorkers while advancing regenerative agricultural practices. We are a historic site that interprets the complicated stories of the people who lived and worked on this land. We are also a cultural gathering place where New Yorkers come together for festivals, performances, seasonal traditions and moments of simple joy.

Queens Farm preserves history by continuing to make it.

As we conclude our 50 Years newsletter series, we are also preparing for one of the most consequential periods in the Farm’s modern history. Over the next five years, more than $65 million in major public capital investment will support the renovation of our historic Horse Barn, the restoration of the landmarked Adriance Farmhouse and the development of a new Visitor and Education Center.

These projects represent far more than improvements to buildings. They will expand our capacity to educate, grow food, welcome visitors, care for historic resources and serve New York City for generations to come. They will provide the infrastructure that an organization of Queens Farm’s scale, reach and public importance now requires.

The challenge before us is to grow without losing what makes this place extraordinary: its authenticity, its openness and its connection between land and people. Our future must remain rooted in the qualities that have carried the Farm across centuries: practical stewardship, adaptability and an enduring commitment to the work at hand.

America’s 250th anniversary invites us to look back, but it must also ask what we intend to carry forward. At Queens Farm, our answer is visible in every cultivated field, restored building, student visit, community celebration and harvest shared with our neighbors.

For more than three centuries, this land has endured because people continued to care for it. For five decades, our nonprofit has ensured that it remains alive for the people of New York.

Now, with pride in our past and purpose in our future, we begin the next chapter.

With gratitude and optimism,
David Hughes
Executive Director
On behalf of the Board and staff of Queens County Farm Museum