YOU’RE INVITED!

Join us Saturday, April 18th from 10AM to 5PM as we welcome the start of a busy and exciting 2026 season during our first signature event of the year, Opening Day! Enjoy a FREE family friendly day of engaging living history demonstrations including hearth cooking, period toys and games, textile work, heirloom gardening and more! View a special display of antique farm machinery. Learn about the new Renfrew Mill as it nears completion. Explore our industrial farming heritage and the enterprises that once thrived here. Discover the families who called “Renfrew” home and how they lived, worked and played. Historic structures throughout the park will be OPEN and occupied by historical interpreters and docents. Full details below!

PROGRAM NOTES: The Visitors Center and Galleries will be open during event hours from 10am-5pm. Park grounds are open dawn to dusk. Feel free to explore the park, Little Antietam Creek and Renfrew’s nature trails. Pack a lunch and enjoy a day with us!

PARKING: Free parking is available at the Visitors Center and Welty Road lots. No vehicles will be permitted to drive onto the farmstead.

SHUTTLES: Golf carts will be available  to transport visitors with mobility needs from the main parking lot to both the Royer Farmstead and Fahnestock Farmstead. Look for yellow A-frame signs indicating shuttle pick-up and drop-off locations.

RESTROOMS: Restrooms will be open at the Visitors Center and Renfrew Mill complex during event hours. Portable toilets are accessible from dawn to dusk at our secondary parking lot off Welty Road.

Renfrew’s mission is to “cultivate inspiration” in visitors of all ages by creating lasting connections to the site’s distinctive character and dynamic heritage through unique experiences. Opening Day is an annual signature event where we invite the community, entirely free of charge, to enjoy and be inspired by all that Renfrew has to offer. Our nonprofit organization can only present events such as this through the generous support of friends and neighbors like you. If you are inspired to help us host this free community event, please make a tax-deductible donation online by clicking the button below. We are grateful for your gift of support. Thank you!

WHAT: Farmhouse Tour 

WHERE: Fahnestock House (1st Floor & Kitchen Level Only)

Visit the Fahnestock House to learn what life was like for Nancy and Peter Fahnestock and the 2nd generation of the Royer family in the mid-19th century. Interact with historic interpreters. Watch domestic life demonstrations on spring cleaning, spinning, sewing, child care, cooking, food preservation and more. Spaces accessible during the event include the parlor, porch, sitting room, cold room and kitchen. For the safety of our visitors, the second story is closed to the public.

WHAT: Museum Tour 

WHERE: Royer House

Join our knowledgeable docents on a brief guided tour of Renfrew’s iconic house museum! Explore the first and second floors of the 1812 stone structure. Hear the stories of those who called it home, from the Royer family to Emma and Edgar Nicodemus. View rooms beautifully furnished with Early American decorative arts in Renfrew’s collection. Look for the many Pennsylvania German artifacts on display including baskets, kitchen utensils and folk art. More exhibits are on view in the Visitors Center galleries including Bell pottery, Pennsylvania Longrifles and tradesmen’s tools.

WHAT: Open Hearth Cooking

WHERE: Fahnestock House Kitchen, Lower Level

Join our historic interpreters in the basement-level kitchen for cooking demonstrations over the open hearth. Learn why seasonal rhythms of farm life, food availability, regional preferences and local Pennsylvania German culture impacted daily meals in the mid-19th century. Discover how they influenced women and the way they fed their families, including our own Nancy Fahnestock (1812-1898).

WHAT: Open Hearth Cooking

WHERE: Summer Kitchen

Join historic interpreters in the Summer Kitchen for cooking and baking demonstrations over the open hearth!

Artist’s rendition of the early 19th century Royer Gristmill

WHAT:  Renfrew Mill Project Open House

WHERE: Renfrew Mill

Check out our progress on the Renfrew Mill Project! Admire the newly constructed Renfrew Mill on its way to becoming a full-scale interpretive structure. View the adjacent Royer Mill ruins and enjoy the surrounding scenery. Chat with Renfrew Museum and Park Board Members to learn about this special project, its importance to the agricultural and industrial heritage of Renfrew and how you can help us with a monetary contribution in support of the Phase II capital campaign. Thanks to a generous donor, along with funding from local and state partners, we have already secured 70% of the $5 Million needed for the project. We are now working to raise the final $1.5 Million remaining to bring the mill back to life through the fabrication of custom-designed millworks and a recirculating pump system. Be a part of this exciting addition to the Renfrew Museum and Park campus and join us in our efforts to “Get the Mill Moving!” by making a tax-deductible gift today!

WHAT: Historic Toys & Games

WHERE: Fahnestock Farmstead

Are you game? We invite you to join in some springtime fun – nineteenth century style! Guests of all ages are encouraged to try hands-on historic activities. Play a game of “Graces”,  compete in a friendly egg and spoon race and discover other amusements familiar to Early American families. Silliness will ensue. Children must be accompanied by a responsible adult at all times.

WHAT: Historic Gardening

WHERE: Fahnestock Farmstead, Pennsylvania German Four-Square Garden

Spring was a busy time on the Early American farmstead! Learn how women like Nancy Fahnestock (1812-1898) prepared their gardens for the growing season. Visit with historic interpreters to hear how four-square gardens were designed. Learn what seed varieties were common in the mid-19th century and how the garden’s bounty produced vegetables, fruits and herbs for food and medicine. Explore the interpretive panels, see what’s growing this time of year and what is left to plant. You can even get your hands dirty and help us weed the beds! 

WHAT: Lime Kiln

WHERE: South of Fahnestock House, behind Garden Shed

Venture up the slope to the reconstructed lime kiln, an early 19th century industrial structure built for Daniel Royer’s tannery. The kiln burned limestone in order to change its chemical composition. The resulting “quicklime” (calcium oxide) was a key ingredient in the tanning process. Lime was also used in mortar, plaster and whitewash and even spread on gardens and farm fields to balance the soil. Stand inside the lime kiln or view it from above.

WHAT: Pennsylvania Longrifle Interpretation

WHERE: Cabinet Shop, Adjacent to Visitors Center

Visit with a historic interpreter to learn about the first truly American firearm, the Pennsylvania Longrifle. Developed by Germanic immigrants, it was used for hunting, protection and sport. Discover local gunsmiths including Waynesboro’s own John H. Johnston (1811-1889). Learn how form and function made the Pennsylvania Longrifle an essential tool and an object of personal expression for its owner. Visitors are invited to hold and handle an unloaded reproduction longrifle under supervision. There will be no firing demonstrations.

WHAT: Antique Farm Machinery Display

WHERE: Fahnestock Barn, Lower Level & Barnyard

Renfrew has been an active farm for almost 300 years! Families have been working this land for centuries, upgrading their equipment as new technologies developed. Visit with a historic interpreter to see a unique assembly of 19th and 20th century farm machinery. Learn about the evolution of farm equipment and the harvesting techniques that shaped rural America. Reminisce about the “good old days” down on the family farm!