Under the Garfield Prairie

Garfield Inn was located near two main roads. Some nights as many as 50 travelers would share news, gossip, refreshment and rooms at this site. On several occasions, as many as a dozen travelers would share a single room.

Story and photos by John Weck

Searing summer heat, curious oxen, and hundreds of inquiring visitors are all in a day's work for archaeologist Jim Yingst of Fever River Research. Based in Springfield,

Garfield Farm Museum is located 5 miles west of Geneva, Illinois off IL Route 38 on Garfield Road. For more information call 630-584-8485 or log on to www.garfieldfarm.org

Yingst and the Fever River Research team have investigated archaeological sites across the Midwest, including Apple River Fort in Elizabeth and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum site in Springfield.

This nineteenth century farm site, though, was an especially interesting dig for the team as they labored to uncover the cellar outline of the

A recently dug metal hut-ton dating from the 1830s. Yellow-ware, white-ware, wire-cut nails, and other artifacts were also uncovered.

original cabin built here in 1836. One of only a few historically intact sites in Illinois, Garfield Farm is unique. The 370- acre Garfield Farm Museum includes pasture, woodlands, wetlands, a 31-acre prairie, an 1842 hay and grain barn, an 1849 horse barn, and the 1846 brick inn, as well as a visitor center. Living history interpreters at Garfield farm demonstrate historic farm and household skills including oxen driving, apple pressing, and candle and soap making. Rare heirloom breeds of poultry and livestock, including Devon oxen, are also exhibited.

To date, donors and volunteers from over 2,800 households in 37 states have pitched in to continue the restoration of this 1840's farmstead

Test holes were dug during the initial efforts to locate the cellar outline. Usually constructed under a house, cellars were normally less than five feet deep. Many had wood flooring and wood plank sides.

and teamster inn. Archaeologists Yingst, Ruth Jorgensen, and Brad Williams add their professional experience to this effort. On this day, after eight excavations conducted over a five-year search, the cellar of the 1836 log house has been found! 170 years after its construction, this cellar feature is now beginning to yield valuable clues to its important role in the development of the Illinois frontier.

"Cellars were important for the storage of food, beverages, and supplies. In an era without refrigeration or canning, cellars were necessary to store food over the winter. As [the site included] a tavern, a larger cellar would be needed to contain food and drink for as many as 50 customers in an evening," said Jerome Johnson, Executive Director of Garfield Farm.

Situated 40 miles west of Chicago, the 1840s-era Garfield Inn was located near the fork of two major roads leading to the Illinois towns of Sycamore and Oregon. Then a center for community activity, the inn hosted hundreds of travelers and teamsters seeking a hot meal, a comfortable overnight stay, good company, and mugs of hard cider or whiskey. In 1846 all of that was possible for just 37 cents!

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Every year thousands of visitors are attracted to Garfield Farm's authentic interpretations of work, life-ways, agricultural skills, and food-ways. As an Inn, Garfield Farm operated from only 1846 to 1849 before being put out of business by a remotely located railroad line.

Archaeologists reviewed findings from earlier explorations with a gradiometer and ground radar. Those results were then matched with existing recorded and oral history sources to ensure accuracy. To find the cellar, several one-meter square test holes were dug by hand. Using a blend of high technology, modern equipment, and traditional archaeological methods, the Fever River Research team insists that, "Trowels, not

Fever River Research associates Ruth Jorgensen and Brad Williams hand screen excavated soil for artifacts. "Trowels, not bulldozers" is the ethic of traditional archaeologists. Modern, more mechanized equipment is faster and more efficient, but may not detect the smallest of shards or artifact remnants.

bulldozers," are the most reliable method.

Once beneath the plow zone— about 18 inches in depth—artifacts from the late frontier period slowly began to surface. Porcelain tea cup handles, metal buttons, pottery shards, clay pipe stems, pieces of 1830s Staffordshire dishes, and plaster chinking from between the log walls were recovered. Early pressed glass, red-ware, stoneware, and a pewter spoon were among additional artifacts found.

"This is a very important discovery for the museum," explained Johnson. "It is a key part of the total evidence the museum has from original buildings, diaries, photographs, maps, furnishings, native prairie, to the 370 acres of land. These resources make Garfield Farm a

Garfield Farm livestock are "heirloom breeds" or animals that are bred to replicate their 1840s counterparts, such as this Devon ox. Rare breeds of heirloom sheep and chickens are also raised for visitor education.

singularly intact historic site."

Using and interpreting these newly discovered "treasures under the prairie," Garfield Farm will continue to increase our understanding and appreciation of Illinois' rich past and to tell the everyday stories of the common men and women of the Illinois country.

John Weck is an adjunct faculty member at Harper College in Palatine, where he teaches U.S. History and Women's History. A volunteer living history interpreter, John received a M.A. in Historical Administration from Eastern Illinois University and a M.A. in American History from Northern Illinois University.

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