Marcella Schumacher Pendall, daughter of Henry and Evaline Busby Schumacher was born in 1910 and spent her childhood and most of her adult life on the farm. As an educator, environmentalist, world traveler and humanitarian, she realized she wanted to pass the farmstead legacy to future generations by offering them the medium that provided such joy to her. It is her wish that the visitors to the farm develop a love and appreciation of the beauty and warmth of nature.
In 1986, Marcella established the Friends of Schumacher Farm to create and operate a living history farm museum. The goals are preservation, restoration and education of early rural life-ways for future generations. The park combines cultural history with the natural environment that supported early local settlement. It shows how a “farm born of prairie” operated during the transition from horse-drawn machinery and kerosene lamps to mechanized farming and electricity.
This 40-acre farmstead with trails leading through a 10-acre prairie restoration project sits on a hilltop, with a view of the state capital, just east of Waunakee. The Friends of Schumacher Farm is a non-profit organization that assumed responsibility for the restoration of the original farmhouse and barn to the 1930s era and has established an educational program that represents the life of the area’s early settlers. The successful partnership among the Friends of Schumacher Farm, its many volunteers, the Dane County Parks Commission and the surrounding communities has made Schumacher Farm Park what it is today.
