Colgate Morgan Horse Farm

Morgan Horses

NPS image

After a failed attempt to raise Morgan horses at George Washington Birthplace National Monument in the 1940s, interest in reviving another horse farm emerged in the 1960s. In October 1965, a representative of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Office’s Division of Resource Management and Visitor Protection visited the birthplace to see if it was possible to create a remount and training station for horses that would be used by mounted ranger patrols in other parks.

The National Park Service already had a facility built for training Morgan horses at Point Reyes National Seashore, but NPS Director George Hartzog felt that there were not enough horses to meet demand. Hartzog envisioned a bi-coastal system that provided horses for eastern parks, particularly for the U.S. Park Police in the Washington metropolitan area. In addition to providing mounts for the NPS, Hartzog also claimed that they would enhance the living farm concept that the birthplace was developing.

In 1968, Mrs. Richard M. Colgate – wife to the Colgate toothpaste magnate – decided to visit the birthplace with the interest of donating horses and funds to support a farm. Hartzog called on the park's Chief of Interpretation and Visitor Services, Chester Harris, to accompany Colgate around the park on January 21, 1968.

Mrs. Colgate approved of the site and with that approval, construction of the Colgate Morgan Horse Farm began. A barn, four paddocks, a clay-surfaced training ring, and six pasture sheds were built to house and train the horses. The design of this training area did not represent an eighteenth-century aesthetic as did other areas of the park, but were twentieth-century in design.

On October 8, 1969, Mrs. Colgate, with her husband, dedicated two stallions, eight brood mares, a show mare, and a gelding to the park. They were officially accepted by Director Hartzog during a public ceremony in which Vermont Governor and president of the Morgan Horse Club, Deane C. David, was the principal speaker. Former first lady, Lady Bird Johnson, also attended the dedication ceremony.

The Morgan horse farm was shortlived, only operating between 1968 and 1972. Today, the Morgan horse barn serves as the maintenance building for the park.