After the war, he entered the U.S. State Department, where he began a twenty year career in the diplomatic corps. Serving under four presidents, from Truman through Johnson, McGhee was Ambassador to Turkey and to West Germany, as well as being the holder of numerous other posts with the State Department.

In 1948, the Ambassador and his wife Cecilia DeGolyer McGhee purchased Farmer's Delight as an English-style country retreat from their weekday activities in Washington, DC, an hour and a half to the east. McGhee made many substantial improvements to the property which became his principal place of residence after retiring from public service in the late 1960's.

Among other uses, the estate became the repository for the numerous books and artifacts which the always intellectually curious Ambassador had collected during his years of travel around the world. Farmer's Delight was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Farmer's Delight has many splendid vistas for observing the eastern and the western sky. From Colonel Joseph Lane to Ambassador George McGhee to now, the place itself, beautifully landscaped and much of it still a working farm, remains a rural treasure, a true delight.