Coggeshall Farm Museum

Bought nonrefundable tickets a day in advance. It ended up being cold and rainy and not well marked. Almost turned around and left like another car but one other family and us parked unknowingly in the wrong area and found the Pilgrim Thanksgiving event. Was cute but don't need to rush back. Best for families with kids ~ages 5-8 years of age. Staff were knowledgeable. 1.5 hours was plenty of time to spend there. The friendliest outdoor cat wandering around then laid by a fire in an old cabin.

Hidden gem and historical museum within Colt State Park. Great for children and anyone that wants to see and learn how life was like in 1790’s. It’s a salt march tenant farm and they are dressed as they were back then. Can take a tour of the farm , gardens, and animals. Kids love it and the location is great being in the colt state park! Perfect day and stop on our tour. Great field trip for students too :)

Maple Sugaring Days! Delightfully fun time maple sugaring! We played various 18th century games, carved a spile, tapped a tree, watched the maple water run, tasted the maple right from the tree, learned more about the process, and got to take home some finished maple syrup. Beautiful location and friendly folks.

Great time at maple sugar harvest. Plenty of space for kids to run around. Staff is friendly. Kids were disappointed that there was no apple cider or Johnny cakes. Wish they were more prepared as that is advertised online.

What a welcoming group of docents! They made history come alive. Lots of animals for the kids to see. We loved Hobbes the Cat the best!

We came for oxen weekend, it was a lovely way to spend a morning. Definitely worth the $10 per person

Great place for the kids. We visit every year we are in Newport!

I wasn't impressed. We got in for free since we're members at Old Sturbridge Village. We came on a day they were doing a Sheep and Wool Festival. There were a good selection of vendors and some demonstrations. The property seem to have one barn and one house. Unless there was more I wasn't seeing. Parking was in a grassy field and it was raining. There was so much mud cars were getting stuck.

We greatly enjoyed our visit today! We were greeted by Shelly, a kind woman dressed in period clothing. She asked us if we wanted to tour the garden, see animals or make crafts. She also showed us several old-fashioned games which we really enjoyed playing outside. We enjoyed seeing the kitchen where Indian pudding and fried squash were being made over an open fire. We also got to try our hand at grinding flour, planing wood and fed the cows and pigs from the garden! The location is beautiful with the bay in the background. It was so enjoyable to be in nature and to step back into the Past. The museum is also participating with the Blue Star military program, which is awesome!!

Phantoms and Fires (Halloween event) review: During Covid times with not a lot of Halloween festivities happening in RI, it was great to hear about this event especially for kids since Halloween will be unlike any Halloween I have ever experienced! The ads had me excited- great job! For adults: If you like theatre, being outside walking in the dark and Poe- this is totally for you! As we entered the grounds, we were waved into a large parking area (not lite at all.) Turned in our tickets at a little structure decked out in orange lights, were given a sheet identifying the happenings of the evening and made our way up to the homestead area guided by lanterns with real candles inside. As we approached the first structure it was well lit, no sign, no one around. So we kept walking. The next structure had a female delivering dialogue- a story about a farmer's wife, how she became tormented and dealt with her torment. I was blown away by he theatrics, her long monologue and how she held the presence of the audience. It was then easy to identify after hearing her and noticing that people then flocked to the next location and waited for the next presentation to begin. The rest of the night went on this way where you went to the structure, waited for the next theatrical performance and moved on. There was a nice break with a musician from NYC who delivered 3 songs, 1 original, one country and then a Peter Gabriel hit. Feeling cold? Stand by the fire! For Kids: We attended with a 7 and 9 year old who both dressed in their costumes for the Halloween event. From the advertisements I was ready for a night all ages could enjoy. My husband and I definitely discussed that this is not an event for young kids. We had a 5 year old going but last minute had to be cancelled- this event was too grown up for her and the 7/9 year old needed a lot of help from the adults to understand what was happening. The advertisement on the website states: Explore the museum after hours where you will find spooky delights from bats and bonfires to cauldrons and candy, from ghosts and guitars to horror and...maybe even...a headless horseman! No bats or cauldrons or I guess more than words use to describe ghosts in Edgar Allen Poe language that maybe the kids couldn't understand. I can say that they did catch on to system and became captivated by the theatrics. No complaints but it wasn't as I expected from their ads. I can say that collecting stamps to get a bag of treats at the end was their favorite although this process was hard to understand as well and the Headless Horseman (a lady) was a big thrill for them. Things they could do better/Safety review: Tell patrons to bring flashlights as it is not very well lite (even the parking lot.) The only bathrooms were 2 porta potties at the parking lot! Small hike from festivities. No had sanitizer at the check in desk where they ask you to use a communal pen for contact tracing (it's Covid times people!) The walk up to the structures is not flat and large rocks lay there- beware! We had a trip and a fall in our group. Be careful visiting the fire- all the wood is a few steps away laying on the ground and it's pretty dark. The stamp collecting station- the poor workers had no light to help them see what they were doing! Also, we were told to stop at the jack-o-lanterns to obtain the stamps but one guy gave us 2 stamps, we could not find one station (come to find out the girl who was working the station was wandering) and another station the lights had burnt out in the pumpkin so we were unsure if it was a station! (Honestly- great idea just needs some work.) As we were listening to the last actress deliver her performance (at the end of the night) the people working the showing were coming in and out of the gate next to her and people were leaving for the night. I found this very unfair to the actress and us as paid patrons. Our ticket was at 6:30 with the event ending at 8pm. There were 7 stops on the program. By the team we got into the event- we only had time to stop at 5 performances (one being the music.) As we were leaving the kids questioned how come we couldn't meet the last 2 characters.

This place is lovely. So the farm replicates what a farm from 1799 would have looked like. The farm is stocked with breeds of animals from that period; not animals from that period as my 7yr old stated as they would all be dead. The buildings are similarly historic structures so the place has the look and feel of similar period places e.g. Plimoth Plantation. It is set on a large plot of land; however most of the animals and all the structures are within a 100yds of the main entrance. I felt totally at home talking to the Ox, walking with the turkeys and I swear if I had stayed just a big longer the chickens would have laid an egg just for me. But seriously this place is a great farm on which to burn an hour with the kids. We are city folk and so getting my kids on to a farm was a bit of a sell but once there the kids loved the total freedom that Coggeshall Museum affords all guests. Even my 16yr old daughter enjoyed our time there. The kids have already asked to go back, this time I'm expecting an egg.

They're set to show everyone how farming in the past produces and its relevance today. Volunteers are recruited to demonstrate how everything operates. An interactive way to learn the Rhode Island Way, just chicken fee.

Truly amazing staff. Mike went out of his way to answer myriad questions about the farm animals. The staff went out of their way to accommodate one of our party who was in a wheelchair. Thank you so much for making the farm accessible! The staff truly make this farm amazing!!!

I remember when I went on an elementary school trip to Coggeshall Farm. That was almost twenty years ago and the experience has kept with me. I have since been fascinated by farm culture. I hope to begin a photo book about Rhode Island's farm culture soon. Thank you, Coggeshall!

Just like stepping back into 1799 My two children & myself spent an idyllic two hours at the farm this Saturday. The staff was amazing very much in love with their work, & took the time to answer the questions the boys had about everything. The boys even got to help collect eggs, & learned how to trick the geese into thinking you are a bigger goose. This is a very hands on museum, just so long as you pay attention to the very few rules & are gentle. It was very peaceful & we are already planning our next visit! http://sophie-files.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-afternoon-on-farm.html

So much potential!! Their website made it sound like this would be a great place to take my young son and his friends for a mom's meet up but sadly it didn't live up to the hype. What started off on the right foot, soon took a downward turn. We were greeted the moment we stepped out of the car by a very friendly woman who gave us an overview of what the Museum was and what it contained. She told us she stayed in the main building and we were free to explore on our own. In my head I was like ok, they must have other workers in the surrounding buildings and areas to help immerse you into the lifestyle of the 1790's. Wrong. The 2 other gentlemen that we saw (we were the only guests at the museum around 11am) were off together doing something with a photographer. We wandered around which took only about 10min, as it's not very big either, before some of the kids (including mine) got restless and wanted more to do. We decided to leave and heard from a friend who stayed that in the main building the women who had greeted us was showing some of the children how to make cheese and weave wool. I wish they had made that clear in the initial overview of the farm - that would have been something to enjoy.

A wonderful step back in time with a staff that really cares about their work. Coggeshall is a place which perfectly represents a nearly forgotten part of history, and brings it to us in a modern context. A great time for the whole family! Highly recommended for anyone interested in history and the way this area was 225 years ago.

This is such an amazing place to visit if you have little ones (or, are spending the day with them!) The staff let my little pal help with spreading the compost, answered all of her questions, and she loved spending time in the fresh outdoors. It is relatively small, but such a great place :) They also have the rarest cow breed in the world, so hey- that's pretty cool for adults!

We attended the Coggeshall Farm "Annual Harvest Fair" this past weekend, so my review will involve that specific event as well as include my impressions of the Farm/Museum in general. First off I thought the cost was steep. For me & my two kids (both under 10) it was $18 to gain entrance. That fee did not cover any of the more attractive activities like the pony ride, the hay ride or the craft making. Those things were all extra $. We could walk around a the property & tour the interior of several of the structures (house, barn) for no extra fee. Also the kids could try climbing the balance rope ladder, and have a look a the turkeys, chickens & cows gratis. But the event is not all that fun for the kids unless you pay for some of the hands-on/ride-on experiences. So you end up spending $20 extra or so for those things, plus a bit more if you want a snack or drink, so $40+ total for the 3 of us. I found this amount to be a little on the high end based on the limited scale of the fair. It's quite small in terms of size and scope. The farm itself wonderful. It definitely evokes a feeling of the distant past. There are a few people in period costume stationed or milling about, demonstrating the clothing and handiwork from circa 1800 farm life. From that perspective it's a fascinating window into a bit of historical New England. I would return for a visit on a day that was not billed as a "Fair" I think it would be a better experience. For one thing this is not a place that accommodates large crowds of people particularly well. There was only a modest sized crowd when we were there on Sunday, but all the screaming toddlers, mega strollers, parents snapping pics with their phones, etc. is a huge distraction from any attempt to immerse yourself in the history of the place, there's just too much modern life in your face everywhere you look.