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News from Garfield Farm |
Registrations are now being taken for individuals who wish to help with
an archaeological excavation returning September 21 at Garfield Farm
Museum. Both novice and experienced volunteers are needed to help
excavate, screen, wash and catalogue artifacts in the vicinity of the
original log house built in 1836 by the Culbertson family and later
expanded in 1841 by the Garfield family.
September is Illinois Archaeology Awareness Month and the theme for
2011 is entitled 'Saving Our Past- Archaeology and Site Preservation'.
Garfield Farm Museum's preservation efforts are a very excellent fit
for this theme. More information about Illinois archaeology is
available at www.illinoisarchaeology.org.
To help accurately interpret, restore and re-create the 1840s
conditions of the Timothy and Harriet Garfield's farmstead and tavern,
the museum started up a 5 year archaeology program last year
The research will be headed by James R. Yingst, Director and Chief
Archaeologist of Heartland Archaeology Research Program of Chicago,
Illinois and is coordinated by Helen Bauer, an experienced amateur
archaeologist and board member of Garfield Farm Museum's Campton
Historic Agricultural Lands. Yingst has experience in Illinois and
Wisconsin 19th century sites and ceramics of the period. Bauer has
traveled and participated in excavations in Asia, Europe, Central
America as well as President James Madison's home, Montpelier and
Illinois‚ Cahokia Mounds and Kampsville sites.
Volunteers must commit to a set schedule to participate. September's
two week session will begin September 21aand continue through October
2. They will be working alongside college and graduate school
archaeology students. Volunteers 14 - 17 years of age may participate
with parent permission. Younger students accompanied by a parent or
guardian may also participate.
Ultimately, a replica of the original log house that the Garfield
family enlarged and made into an inn or tavern will be built. The
research will help in this effort and will provide better clues as to
how the Culbertson and Garfield families lived.
The Culbertson log house/Garfield log tavern
stood in the fork of the Chicago St.Charles Road that branched
northwest to Sycamore and southwest to Oregon, IL. Culbertson
originally claimed 440 acres of land that he improved with the house, a
dug well, and had 30 acres in cultivation when he sold the claim to
Timothy Garfield in 1841 for $650.
Farmers hauling wheat to Chicago's port caught the Garfield's attention
and they expanded the log house as an inn or tavern. The structure
occupied a 20 by 50 foot area with a cellar that was discovered in the
2006 archaeology investigation. The house consisted of two sections and
a kitchen to the west. Three first floor rooms included the barroom and
two chambers were on the second floor. The log house had slab siding
with a roof of shakes bound down by poles according to the Timothy
Garfield biography.
The historic integrity of the site and its documentation call for a
thorough archaeological study to confirm and add to understanding the
first settlement and development of farms in northern Illinois. To
register, see the dig, or to financially contribute to the effort,
contact the museum at 630 584-8485, e-mail info@garfieldfarm.org or
write to Box 403 LaFox, IL 60147.