Consequently, she set out to look for a farm. Shouse – who was short on money but long on conviction – got into her car in 1930, with a friend visiting from Boston, and drove out of Georgetown into Virginia. Shouse encountered large tracts of farmland in Vienna, Virginia. She asked a man who was standing in the road if any of the land was for sale. The man replied, "Nothing for sale. Everybody keeps his land because the division was made after the American Civil War, 52 acre properties, and because of them we don't want any strangers coming in." Undeterred, Shouse continued to look for properties. That evening, however, while reading through the classified ads in the newspaper, she came across a property for sale advertisement. It was the exact farm she inquired about earlier that day. In February 1930, Shouse bought The Wolf Trap Farm for $5,300.00.