NOTE: IN ORDER TO BETTER SEE PHOTOS IN THEIR FULL 1600 PX. RESOLUTION, VIEW THEM IN THE ALBUM FORMAT BY CLICKING ON THE LEAD PHOTO OR ANY PHOTO IN THE POST. This is especially true for landscape shots. Thanks to Mark for the idea of adding this alert so the photos can be seen at their best!

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Ranger Led Farm Hike and How You Can Help

On Friday Sharon and I showed up at the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center for a ranger led hike to the Bailly Homestead and the Chellberg Farm sites.

Bailly Homestead

Joseph Bailly, a fur trader, acquired the homestead and surrounding lands during the 1830's when the Calumet was opened to white settlement.  The family was not in the home long before Joseph died.  Over the years many changes and additions were made to the structure.

living room with exposed lathe and plaster wall

The house is only open to the public if they are in the company of a ranger.  There was a strong mildew smell inside the home and the other buildings so I missed a lot of information on the tour.  I was content to admire the buildings from the outside.

Summer kitchen later turned into a chapel

The group followed Ranger Kelly to the nearby Chellberg Farm where she got her start with the National Park Service as a teenager working on the living history farm.

1885 farmhouse

Sadly funding for this endeavor is no longer available and the animals that used to plow the fields were sold off and all that is done at this time is planting and harvesting of the garden.



Maple syrup is made at the farm in early March and volunteers and rangers demonstrate how the Native Americans made syrup from sap as well as how the Swedish-American Chellberg family made it at the sugar shack in the 1930's.


Today is the first day of October and the beginning of Domestic Violence Awareness month.  A new report sheds light on the consequences of domestic violence in Wisconsin:

The organization End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin released a study that shows 55 people died as a result of domestic violence in 2013. Thirty-nine people were homicide victims, 12 perpetrators took their own lives and four attackers were killed by law enforcement officers.

The report says guns were used in 51 percent of the domestic violence homicides.

Seventy-nine percent of those who committed domestic violence homicides last year were male. The victims’ ages range from 6 years old to 79.

Want to learn more about how you can help?  You can donate to  End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin to help fund education of law enforcement, volunteers, advocates and community members.  End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin also partners with communities in other ways to help end domestic abuse.

Know someone who suffers from domestic abuse and want to know what you can do to help?  I found a good resource here.  Most victims need emotional support and if you witness someone being abused please call local law enforcement.  Their life may be in jeopardy and they may be too terrified to seek help themselves.

2 comments:

  1. A living history farm would be a very interesting thing to see. What a shame there's a lack of funding.

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  2. I've been there when they used to host The Duneland Harvest Festival. It was so neat. You could see how they really lived back then. They still had the animals at Chellburg Farm back then. The festival was great because not only did they have the Bailly Homestead buildings open; they had artifacts from the settlers and the Native Americans, demonstrations of several activities they would've participated in, and even food and music from that time period. I was so sad when they stopped having that festival. 2009 was the last one I think.

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