Take a stroll back to the 1890s at Kline Creek Farm

There is a gravel path that serves as something of a time tunnel at Kline Creek Farm near West Chicago.

It starts at the parking lot and modern visitors center. But as you follow it back through the trees and along the footbridge across the creek, you slowly step back in time until you emerge at a farmstead that operates much as it did in the 1890s.

There is a farmhouse surrounded by period-appropriate gardens. There are free-roaming chickens. A blacksmith demonstrates his craft in one of the out buildings. There are horses and cows and sheep. Follow the path farther and you will find the pigs, happy in the shade and slop.

At any point along the way you may bump into a costumed interpreter, happy to tell you about farm life in a century long past.

Nestled in the Timber Ridge Forest Preserve, the farm operated by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County also offers picnic opportunities and even the chance to try some games and activities that entertained kids in the 1890s.

This weekend, for example, farmhouse museum tours will be available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday, blacksmith demonstrations from 1:30-3:30 p.m. Saturday and a program that looks at how farms were powered from 1:30-3:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Admission to the working farm at 1N600 County Farm Road is free and the grounds are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays. For details, call (630) 876-5900 or visit dupageforest.org.