Learn about life on Garfield Farm after the inn closes

As part of Garfield Farm Museum's 40th anniversary, a series of lectures on the history of the project are being planned.

The series will begin Sunday, Jan. 29, with "Life on the Farm After Innkeeping." The first program of the series will be at 2 p.m. at the museum, 3N016 Garfield Road in Campton Hills. There is a $6 donation. Refreshments will be served.

It will explore life on the farm after the 1840s country inn era and the history of the second and third generation of Garfields, Crook, Swanson and Strom families who lived on the farm at various times will be discussed.

The 2017 calendar of events will feature some special additions for the museum's 40th anniversary.

Many of the museum's major traditional events are at least 20 or more years old. As the seasonality of agricultural life had long-standing traditions of planting and harvest, the museum has striven to maintain the annual excitement of new life with its spring Rare Breeds Livestock and Poultry Show, the bounties of summer produce at its August Heirloom Garden Show, and the culmination of the year's work at its fall Harvest Days.

The museum's two founding nonprofit organizations, Garfield Heritage Society and Campton Historic Agricultural Lands, were chartered respectively on May 12 and Nov. 29, 1977 when Elva Ruth Garfield donated 163 acres and her family's historic farmstead to be used as an 1840s living history farm and inn museum.

In 40 years, the museum has expanded from seven buildings and 163 acres to 27 historic structures and 374 acres of preserved farmland, prairie, wetland, and woods encompassing two generational farmsteads. This is all more the museum founders ever dared imagine. A series of lectures will be offered detailing the history of creating the museum and its broad coverage of the museum's three inseparable themes of American history, farming and nature. Donors and volunteers from more than 3,800 households hailing from 46 states and six countries have given in excess of $10 million and thousands of hours of labor to reach this point.

On Feb. 12, the series will focus on the restoration work on the historic buildings at the farm. On March 12, the lecture continues with a focus on the restoration of the natural areas. On April 8, museum archaeologist Jim Yingst will speak on the four-decade search for the 1835 log house, and on April 13, a 175th birthday celebration for the recently restored 1842 threshing barn will be held.

Garfield Heritage Society's May 12 birthday will focus on the activities of Garfield Heritage Society. The Nov. 29 birthday of Campton Historic Agricultural Lands will look at the impact it has had on preserving land at the farm and in the region.

The celebration of the Culbertson and Garfield families arriving on the land in 1835 and 1841 will include a Saturday night July 8 contra dance, the first offered to the public in the newly restored 1842 barn.

A 40-year reverence for the land will be demonstrated in a series of monthly nature walks beginning in April across the museum's woodlands, prairie, and wetlands to see their various stages of restoration.

From the stubble of spring controlled burns to the towering prairie grasses of September, faithful participants can discover the true nature of the world that dominated Illinois up through first settlement.

All these lectures, workshops and seminars will round out a year of over 36 events that include topics on natural area management, antique apple tree grafting, dulcimer playing, backyard chicken raising, blacksmithing, children's farm camps, and archaeological investigation. Assorted lectures include early American farming's role in democracy, women's needlework on the prairie, 1840s medications, the history of corn and the basics of barn types and construction, and the facts and fictions of the children's chapter book "Angie of Garfield Farm."

Not to be forgotten are two standout events at the museum, the August Antique Tool Show and Sale and the December Candlelight at the Inn.

Certain events may require reservations and the fees range from $3 to $60 per person. Tours of the farm for drop-in visitors are offered from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday and Sundays, June through September. Tours are also available by appointment year round.

Garfield Farm Museum is the only 374-acre historically intact former Illinois prairie farmstead and tavern listed on the National Register of Historic Sites in Illinois that is being restored as an 1840s living history farm museum. The museum depends exclusively on donations to preserve the incredible historic, agricultural, and natural resources on the farm. The museum is located on Garfield Road, off Route 38 in Campton Hills.

For information or reservations, call (630) 584-8485, email info@garfieldfarm.org.

Visit www.garfieldfarm.org or www.facebook.com/GarfieldFarmMuseum/.