The Red Thistle Dancers performed at Ardenwood Historic Farm for the Tartan Day Scottish Faire.

 

Tartan Day, as we currently celebrate it every April 6th , started in New York City in 1982 as a celebration of contributions by Scottish Americans to the United States throughout its history. The April date marks the declaration of Scottish independence against Edward I’s English rule, known the Declaration of Arbroath, which was signed in 1320 and submitted to Pope John XXII. The declaration was intended to confirm Scotland's status as an independent, sovereign state, defending Scotland's right to use military action when unjustly attacked. Over the next 300 years, thousands of Scots fled their home for a better future in the Americas.

 

 

 

 

Ardenwood Historic Farm is a Regional Historic Landmark in Fremont, California. I

 

Officially opened to the public on July 28, 1985, the entire park includes a farm, a large forest and a mansion now called the Patterson House, which was first constructed in 1857 by the farm's original owner, George Washington Patterson.

Patterson called his estate "Ardenwood", after the forested area in England mentioned in Shakespeare's play, As You Like It. 

 

A feature of the park is the Railroad Museum at Ardenwood which operates a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge  horse-drawn railway, a recreation of a historic local branch of the South Pacific Coast Railroad. The museum has a collection of narrow gauge railroad cars and other artifacts of 19th century railroading.