Westminster, Maryland: Whittaker Chambers' Pumpkin Patch

Chambers hid secret documents in hollowed-out pumpkins on his family farm, then gave them (the documents, not the pumpkins) to Dick Nixon to fight the Commies. The patch is unmarked; it's now somebody's lawn.

Pipe Creek Farm

Address:: Saw Mill Rd, Westminster, MD
Directions:: Pipe Creek Farm. I-795 to exit 9B. Drive 12.5 miles west on Hwy 140/Baltimore Blvd. Exit onto Hwy 97/Littlestown Pike north. Drive five miles, then turn right onto Saw Mill Rd. for about a half-mile. The patch is unmarked; it's now a lawn. Private property. Visible from road.

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The lawn that was once the famous pumpkin patch.

Whittaker Chambers' Pumpkin Patch

The pumpkin patch was more of a compost area where "volunteer" pumpkins grew, and is now just lawn. Chambers, looking for a unique place to hide communist documents he held to prove his case, hid them for a short time in hollowed-out pumpkins.

This is on private land still owned by the Chambers family.

[David Almasi, 11/28/2010]

Whittaker Chambers' Pumpkin Patch

If you take exit 19 off the Baltimore Beltway (to I-795), then take MD 140 west to Westminster, take MD 97 north, then go right on Saw Mill Road, you can see Whittaker Chambers' Pumpkin Patch, aka the birthplace of Richard Nixon's career.

And even better, after you're done, you can choose between Baugher's, Hoffman's, or Simmon's General Store for great homemade ice cream. Yum!

[anon, 01/01/1998]

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