One of the Chapel Hill and Hillsborough area’s best kept secrets is Spence’s Farm for children.  The farm is a 200 year-old homestead, now tranformed into a teaching environment centered around mentoring and life on a living farm.  On the farm, children enjoy horseback riding, a woodshop, vegetable gardens, lots of farm animals, playing fields, acres of forest and summertime swimming in a natural pond.  Instead of sitting around inside, they’re outside playing and having a ball. 

Nearly 7 years later, my son Evan, now a junior in high school, will still recall something he learned at the farm or something Spence said, usually about nature, native Americans traditions, wild or farm animals, or the environment.  He still mentions field trips he remembers to places such as Occoneechee Mountain State Recreation Area outside Hillsborough, from which he came home proudly telling us about how he had climbed the mountain.

Programs include daily After School at Spence’s Farm (with transportation from most schools), Enrichment Classes and Activities each school day, and fun Field Trips.  The teacher workday program coinciding with the days Chapel Hill/Carrrboro city schools are closed is a great way for parents to sign up their chidren kids on a daily basis to see if the farm’s atmosphere is right for them.  Spence’s Farm also hosts birthday parties– what fun!