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Candlelight
at the Inn - Dec. 3
CAMPTON HILLS- Candlelight at the Inn returns to Garfield Farm Museum on Sunday, December 3rd from 3-7 pm. Interpreters wearing period clothing will share with guests what life was like for people before the railroad came to Illinois. There is no charge for the Candlelight event, but donations are most welcome as the museum is paying for major repairs to the 177 year old brickwork completed this October.
In July of 1845, Timothy Garfield made 80,000 brick that on May 6, 1846, local brick mason, Bryant Durant (Durant House LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve, St. Charles, IL), began laying the bricks to the inn that replaced the 1841 log tavern Garfield had established. Garfield's brick making skills learned at age 14 in Putney, VT and Durant's masonry and mortar have stood the test of time as both remained largely intact. The most worn areas were under the 25 windows where water and ice did require tuckpointing and some brick replacement. Later day chimneys made with larger brick were also rebuilt with smaller brick that matched the 1846 brick dimensions.
The brick tavern opened on October 13, 1846 and provided a much more substantial home and place of business for the Garfield family and their customers. In the pre-railroad era, all travel was done by horse, oxen, or on foot. Wheat ladened wagons at best could average 15 miles a day so Garfield's Inn was a stopover for farmers headed to Chicago 3 days distant. Dry weather or frozen roads were best for travel as mud would delay the most determined traveler. Cold weather travel was thus a necessity so to encounter a candlelit inn on a cold winter's night was most welcome refuge. Innkeepers' hospitality determined their reputation and success as many of the 41 "inns" between Garfield's and Chicago on the St. Charles-Chicago Road varied greatly in conditions and accommodations. The well-kept and supplied taproom with the second-floor ballroom dances, and Harriet Garfield's cooking made Garfield's a popular wayside country inn.
The spirit of candlelight evokes that long ago hospitality as museum volunteers in period clothing welcome the modern-day guest with refreshments and nineteenth century music in the ballroom by the musicians of Last Night's Fun.
The Candlelight tour offers visitors a chance to meet the volunteers and donors, who are the lifeblood of the farm. Visitors can become members of the museum or support its various restoration projects. The event is a time for those interested in becoming involved to meet those who already give so much to help sustain the museum and keep it moving forward. The event also benefits the museum’s ongoing efforts to restore the historic buildings and to provide educational programming.
The museum is in its 6th year of a $4 million campaign (The 2027 Bucket List) to complete all its major projects of restoration and development by its 50th anniversary in November of 2027. Over half of the projects have been completed with several others begun. The efforts include restoring natural areas, preserving or restoring 18 historic structures of 27 buildings on the museum's two farmsteads, adding livestock and museum support facilities. A Garfield Farm Forever Endowment has been established with a $10 million goal. Garfield Heritage Society and Campton Historic Agricultural Lands are the two non-profit organizations responsible for the site's preservation, restoration and interpretation.
The 375 acre Garfield Farm Museum is the only historically intact former 1840s Illinois prairie farmstead and teamster inn being restored by donors and volunteers from 3500 households in 37 states as an 1840s working farm museum. Garfield Farm Museum is located 5 miles west of Geneva, IL off ILL Rt.38 on Garfield Road. For information call (630) 584-8485 or email info@garfieldfarm.org. |