Tavern Day to help celebrate Glen Ellyn history
Visitors' imaginations will get a little boost from the Glen Ellyn Historical Society Sunday, Sept. 29, when nostalgia for the 19th century takes over at Stacy's Tavern.
At this year's Tavern Day, an annual celebration of the village's history, the society presents a three-dimensional taste of what life was like in 1846, when the tavern was built at the crossroads of Main Street and St. Charles and Geneva roads.
“We have some demonstrations of things. We try to do a lot of hands-on activities,” said Suzanne Carty, event committee chairwoman and president of the society's board of directors. “They can dip candles, they can saw logs. They can shell corn. They can play pioneer games.”
Visitors also can try butter-churning, rope-making and laundry chores, 1840s-style.
Outdoors, visitors will see goats and rabbits from the nearby Goodrich family farm, along with a local equestrian's horse near the outdoor classroom.
“We set up an outdoor 1840s schoolhouse,” Carty said. “They can try writing with a quill pen. They can make cornhusk dolls. This year, we're doing thaumotropes. It was a toy that was a precursor to the first step in moving images.”
Local artist Don Ohlinger will exhibit his carvings, paintings and sculptures, and Grace Lutheran Church pastor the Rev. Melody Eastman and her husband, Marty, will stroll the grounds singing Irish ballads.
Carty said visitors also can tour the tavern.
“It was run as an inn. It was one of many going west from Chicago. This was a major route,” she said.
Before the railroad was built in 1849, people used the route to move west and settle. The dirt road also served as a pathway for farmers bringing animals to and from Chicago, Carty said.
The tavern has four upstairs bedrooms and a kitchen, a tap room, a ladies' parlor and a dining room on the first floor, she said. For travelers, the building offered comfort and provided necessities.
“They included (overnight) accommodations and both food and drink,” Carty said. “We don't know for sure whether Stacy's Tavern served alcohol. We have found no evidence one way or the other what Stacy's did. Most taverns did serve alcohol, so it probably did.”
Carty said the Stacy family lived and farmed on the land before building the tavern as a business enterprise. Years later, the business closed and a series of families resided in the building, she said.
“It's not unusual for taverns or rural inns of the time - sometimes you didn't even get your own room. Often, these taverns, when it was busy, would just have people sleeping on the floor,” she said. “One thing we do know was they charged 50 cents per night. For that, you got two meals, a place for the night and hay for your horses.”
Carty said Stacy's Tavern is one of only two remaining taverns on the West suburban route, with the other being Garfield Farm in La Fox.
Tavern Day, she said, helps people understand what life was like almost 200 years ago.
“Hopefully, they'll appreciate what they have now,” she said. “Everything you did in 1840 is hard work. It's a fun day. And children go home with a bag of things they made.”
Glen Ellyn Historical Society Tavern Day
When: 1 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 29
Where: Stacy's Tavern, 557 Geneva Road, Glen Ellyn
Admission: $8 for adults, $6 for society members, $4 for nonmember children ages 3 to 17, $3 for member children ages 3 to 17, free for children younger than 3
Info: gehs.org or (630) 469-1867