Naper Settlement's Hometown Picnic reflects an earlier time

History lessons can come in many different forms.

But among the best are those that allow us to truly feel like we're stepping back to an earlier time and place - even if it may be a bit stylized and a bit sanitized. Because, let's face it, back in the 1800s, the livin' wasn't always easy in the summertime.

Still, Naper Settlement's Hometown Picnic celebration on Sunday was a welcome change from the hustle and bustle going on just outside the living-history museum's fence line in downtown Naperville.

For a few hours, at least, visitors could watch a vintage baseball game played by the rules of 1858 and maybe try their hand at a game of ring toss or wiggle their hips in a Hula-Hoop contest.

For a few hours, visitors could imagine living in a simpler, slower-moving time before taking a deep breath and stepping once more through the settlement gates into the modern world, secure in the knowledge that for many of us, these will become the good old days.