A New Name for the Next Chapter
The Alice Ferguson Foundation is becoming the Ferguson Outdoor Learning Center.
For more than 70 years, people have come here to learn, explore, and experience the natural world. What began with Alice and Henry Ferguson’s vision for Hard Bargain Farm has grown into a nationally recognized center for environmental education, outdoor learning, and stewardship.
Now, our name is evolving to better reflect the organization we have become—and the experiences we create every day.
Welcome to the Ferguson Outdoor Learning Center.
What you need to know
New name: Ferguson Outdoor Learning Center
Same organization: Alice Ferguson Foundation remains our legal name
Same mission: Connecting people with the natural world through education, stewardship, and experiences outdoors
Website: Full transition coming in early 2027
About Our New Name
A Name That Says What We Do
The Alice Ferguson Foundation name has served us well for decades and will always be an important part of our story. But as our work has grown, we’ve heard a consistent challenge: our name doesn’t immediately tell people who we are or what happens here.
Ferguson Outdoor Learning Center does.
Our new name puts outdoor learning at the heart of our identity while carrying the Ferguson legacy forward. It reflects a place where students investigate the natural world, teachers bring lessons to life, families and communities connect with the outdoors, and people of all ages discover their own relationship with nature.
What’s Changing and What Isn’t
We are still the same organization, with the same people, programs, property, and commitment to connecting people with the natural world.
We will continue to:
- Provide transformative outdoor learning experiences for students and educators
- Care for and share our 330-acre campus along the Potomac River
- Protect and restore the Potomac River watershed
- Create opportunities for people of all ages to experience, understand, and enjoy nature
- Honor the history, people, and stories that have shaped this remarkable place
And Alice Ferguson remains at the heart of our story. Her belief in the importance of this land, learning, creativity, and community continues to inspire our work.
Rooted in Our History. Focused on the Future.
Choosing a new name was not a decision we made lightly.
The process grew from years of strategic planning and included conversations with staff, leadership, board members, partners, and members of our community. We explored our history, our mission, our audiences, and where we want to go next.
Again and again, one idea rose to the top:
Our name should make it easier for people to understand who we are and invite them to be part of what happens here.
Ferguson Outdoor Learning Center does exactly that.
Finding Joy in Nature
Our new identity also gives us a simple way to express what we hope every person takes away from an experience here:
Finding Joy in Nature.
Because learning about the environment matters. Protecting it matters. But lasting connections with the natural world often begin with something even simpler: curiosity, discovery, wonder, and joy.
That is what Alice Ferguson found here more than a century ago.
And it is what we hope generations to come will find here, too.
Same Place. Same Mission.
A Name That Better Tells
Who We Are.
Over the coming months, you’ll begin to see the Ferguson Outdoor Learning Center name and new visual identity appear across our communications, programs, signs, and materials.
Our website will transition fully to our new identity in early 2027. In the meantime, you may see both the Alice Ferguson Foundation and Ferguson Outdoor Learning Center names as we make the change.
We’re excited to welcome you into this next chapter.
Ferguson Outdoor Learning Center
Finding Joy in Nature
