Unearth history at Garfield Farm's Harvest Days

This Sunday, visitors to Garfield Farm Museum's Harvest Days will get a chance to dig into history - literally.

The historic farm will hold a "see and sift" archeological dig to provide Harvest Day-goers with a chance to unearth some of the farm's 150-year-old buildings that are in the process of being restored.

It will be a day filled with hands-on history as volunteers demonstrate how chores like corn shucking and wheat harvesting were performed. A demonstration on cider pressing will also be held.

Tall tales are an order of the day, as story minstrel Reid Miller illustrates how information was spread and shared before the Internet age.

Harvest Days will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4 at the Garfield Farm, 3N016 Garfield Road in Campton Hills. Admission to Harvest Days is $6 for adults and $3 for children 12 and younger.

Refreshments and baked goods will be for sale throughout the day.

The Garfield farm is a historically intact prairie farmstead that dates back to the 1840s. A team of donors and volunteers has been working on-site excavating the 281-acre property to unearth buildings that were part of the original farm.

Harvest Days, now in its 28th year, will now allow anyone else who would like to try their hands at sifting and screening a chance to help workers on the farm's current project - excavating a well found near the remains of a building discovered on the property in 2006.

The property itself was converted into a historical museum site in 1977 after the farm's last owner, Elva Ruth Garfield, decided to convert the property into a place dedicated to teaching the public about the Midwest's rural beginnings.

The dig will be ongoing all day. Tours will be given of some of Garfield Farm's fully restored buildings, including their historic brick inn that dates back to 1846.

Visitors can also get a peek at the restoration work being done on the property's oldest building, a hay and grain barn that was built in 1842. Trillium Dell Timberworks, the company completing the restoration, will demonstrate how the logs are chopped by hand and used to refurbish the barn as authentically as possible.

"The whole concept behind Harvest Days is give people an idea of where we are headed with the (Garfield Farm) restoration project," museum executive director Jerome Johnson said.

"The focus is on the daily life of a farm. Harvest Days will have a little bit of everything, from showing the public that process of creating a museum to seeing barn restoration, which is a one time thing only. Once the archeological dig is complete and the buildings are restored that opportunity is gone."

Johnson hopes that once restoration work on Garfield Farm is completed the property can be used as an education center that teaches the public about how life was back in the mid-1800s.

"The Garfield Farm gives people the chance to look at history of the area and see how things have changed. We can ask ourselves where are we today and where we're headed in the future," Johnson said.

"The farm gives you a perspective above and beyond your world."

If you go

What: Garfield Farm Museum's 28th annul Harvest Days, a one-day event that includes a "see and sift" onsite archeological dig, live historic demonstrations and a tall tale story telling session

When: 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4

Where: The historic Garfield Farm at 3N016 Garfield Road in Campton Hills

Admission: $6 for adults and $3 for kids 12 and younger

Details: Call (630) 584-8485 or visit garfieldfarm.org