When the first Trail of History historical re-enactment was held at the McHenry County Conservation District’s Glacial Park in 1989, Ed Collins wasn’t quite sure what to expect.
“Some of us called it `Trial of History’ that first year,” remembered Collins, one of the event’s organizers. “We frankly weren’t sure what we were getting into. We had people with blankets over their shoulders and sandals on their feet portraying Native Americans. Then 1,300 people showed up, and we thought that maybe we were on to something.”
Indeed, in only a few years, the Trail of History has become one of the northwest suburbs’ most popular events, and last year more than 8,000 people descended on Glacial Park for the get-together.
Collins and other organizers have their fingers crossed that attendance will top 10,000 at the fifth annual Trail of History Oct. 16 and 17.
“This truly has become one of the best events of its kind,” said Collins, a restoration ecologist with the McHenry County Conservation District. “The re-enactors who come here from all over the Midwest have a very high commitment to education and hands-on history. We try to keep things as authentic as we can, to show what life was like for everyday kind of people.”
The campsite re-enactment covers the period from 1670, when the French began settling the Great Lakes and the area along the Illinois River, to around 1850, which was the end of the frontier in the Land of Lincoln. “By 1855, the railroads came through Illinois, and there was no more frontier,” Collins said.
Last year’s Trail of History had 96 campsites and more than 150 re-enactors. More than 100 volunteers are also involved in staging the event.
The campsite has been described as being like something out of the film “Dances With Wolves.”
“Wait until you walk over the top of the last hill and look down on the valley for the first time,” a group of first-timers was told last year by one of the volunteer guides. “When you lay eyes on the campsite for the first time, you’ll think you stepped back in time 250 years.”
John Shiel, MCCD educational services manager, said many people have discovered Glacial Park and the conservation district through the Trail of History. “And hopefully they discover something about their cultural heritage and the history of this area,” he said. “People are so enthusiastic about this event. It’s like coming out and discovering unknown wealth.”
The Trail of History, naturally enough, begins on a rolling, winding trail. It’s a two-mile hike to the campsite. Visitors walk around two hills called delta kames, which are formations created by gravel and sand deposits from melting glaciers more than 14,000 years ago. The campsite, an open field surrounded by prairie grasses and autumn-colored trees, is at the foot of the kames, near Nippersink Creek.
Front pages from old newspapers, beginning with the most recent headlines, are posted along the trail to the campsite. The papers become more dated the farther you venture into the woods, including front pages from the Civil War.
“We want to give people a feeling of the progression of history,” Collins said. “Walking along the trail seeing headlines about the JFK assassination, the end of World War II, the sinking of the Titanic and so on gives a sense of time and place.”
Several interpreters are stationed along the trail, talking about events in Illinois history. Topics include Native Americans who lived in the McHenry County area as far back as 12,000 years ago, and efforts to restore Glacial Park to its natural state.
Then, after 30 minutes or so-depending on how briskly you walk and how much time you spend at the interpreter sites-you arrive at the campsite. What you’ll see looks like a movie set. The campsite covers 10 acres, and the mix of tents, bark huts and teepees really does afford visitors a chance to step back in time a couple of centuries.
Many of the hearty re-enactors sleep at the campsite beginning on Thursday night. Overnight temperatures at last year’s Trail of History dipped into the 20s, but that didn’t faze Richard Miller of Justice one bit. “It’s not bad at all out here, as long as you’ve got some straw to lay on and lots of hot coffee to drink,” he said with a wink. “I love it out here under the stars.”
When Miller’s wrapped in his bear skin rug, he prefers to be called “Grizzly Bear,” his fictional Native American name. “Of course, you can call me `Griz,’ if you’d like,” he added.
While Miller was going it alone last year at his campsite, the Trail of History is a family affair for many others. Cheryl and Tony Peeters of McHenry and their daughter, Heather, now a freshman at McHenry High School, were sporting deer skin outfits and showing visitors how to tan and scrape deer, rabbit, coyote and sheep hides to make clothes.
“I really enjoy the Trail of History,” said Heather, who with her parents will return this year. “It’s a good way to learn public speaking skills, because we talk to so many people. Would I like to live back then? It would be hard, but it would be cool, too. I admire the Indians and the pioneers and everything they went through.”
Karen Bazilewich of Hebron and her husband, Greg, portray McHenry County settlers from around 1840. Karen had a couple of barrels full of bear grease soap. “I got the grease from a friend who was hunting in the mountains out west,” she explained. “Believe me, it lathers up just great. It will get you cleaner than anything you can buy at the store.”
Bazilewich said she and her husband get a kick out of sleeping out at the campsite, but it also makes her appreciate the comforts of home. “You realize what people went through 200 or 300 years ago,” she said. “I have to say that after sleeping out here for two nights, I appreciate my warm bed a little more, the heat coming on all by itself, things like that.”
Fred Durrenberg of Johnsburg will once again be busy surveying homesteads, using a compass and chain. His fictional character, “John Ira Parke,” is a composite character who worked for the U.S. Land Office in the 1820s and 1830s.
“It’s just plain fun to do,” Durrenberg said. “I guess it’s the ham in me coming out. What I think we’re doing is helping people get in touch with their roots. We’re demonstrating the history of everyday people in this country, not great events. We’re interested in the men and women who got up in the morning, went to work and hoped nothing bad happened during the day. And every year the questions that people ask us get a little more sophisticated. That tells me we’re doing some good.”
Durrenberg’s wife, Debby, demonstrates frontier cooking skills, while their daughter, Mandy, 12, hangs out with the other frontier kids. Debby and Mandy are also developing fictional characters of their own.
Liz DiJohn of Spring Grove portrays “Elizabeth Medicine Woman,” an English-Irish girl who was adopted by the Chippewa Indians at a young age. That’s how she learned the ways of being a medicine woman. And DiJohn’s husband, Joseph, is a deerskin-clad fur trader-trapper who is a runaway from Shay’s rebellion, which was a brouhaha over British taxation without representation. And their 12-year-old granddaughter, Nicole DiJohn of Spring Grove, is a town crier.
Liz DiJohn wears a beaded wrap skirt, leggings and a beaded shirt. A blanket doubles as a coat when a chilly wind picks up. She volunteered for the Trail of History four years ago and was instantly hooked. She developed her own character, and she and her husband now go to a dozen or so re-enactments every year.
“I enjoy being able to acquaint the general public with what happened in history as realistically as possible,” she said. “And I always learn something new, every outing we go to. Plus it’s a great bunch of people. There are some fun social aspects to it.”
Brad Preston of Lisle is a member of the Joseph Naper Co., based on an 1832 militia unit that was mustered into service during the Blackhawk War. Members of the unit fought for 23 cents a day. The re-enacted unit consists of 25 men, women and children from all over the Chicago area.
Preston has been a historical re-enactor since 1976. He was a Revolutionary War re-enactor during the Bicentennial. In fact, a relative on his mother’s side of the family, Fenner Foote, was a Minuteman in the Revolutionary War.
“When I got involved with historical re-enactments 17 years ago, my mom thought it was a passing fad,” he said. “But I absolutely love history, and these events give me a chance to live a little bit of history. I’ve settled on re-enactments of the frontier period.”
Preston portrays “Willard Scott,” a real-life character who became a successful businessman in Naperville after the Blackhawk War. “I chose Willard Scott because he was a great woodsman, and he and I have mutual beliefs on Native Americans and their way of life,” he added.
And if you’ve ever wondered how Native Americans and early settlers made tools such as hoes, spades, knives, hide scrapers and ax heads, look for Richard Hamilton of Harvard. He’ll be demonstrating the art of flint napping, which involves making tools out of stone.
“People are really interested in old-time work done with the hands,” Hamilton said. “And I get lots of good questions from people, which is gratifying.”
Debbie Martin of Hampshire attended for the second time in 1992. “It’s fantastic,” she said. “It’s educational, it’s fun, it’s everything you want in something like that. There are skits, music and a great cast of characters. It’s my favorite event.”
Among the many other re-enactors at the Trail of History will be an 18th Century doctor, Terry Stults of Waupaca, Wis., who performs “operations” on people. Don and Mary Lou Clark of Ridott, Ill., set up their authentic bark wigwam. John Busch of Delavan, Wis., is a leather worker, while Bob Taunt of LaCrosse, Wis., is a French mapmaker. Chuck Williams of Arlington Heights is “Jacques Rose,” a voyageur with the Wapiti Trading Co. And the Quetico Brigade of French Voyageurs will demonstrate how to make canoe paddles.
A newcomer to this year’s Trail of History is Tom Przyble of Hoffman Estates, who will portray a Jesuit priest who ministers to the spiritual needs of the settlers. Another new feature this year will be the Wisconsin Woodland Native Encampment. Led by Barb Stucki of Oshkosh, Wis., the group portrays Native American life in the eastern woodlands around 1670. And Denise Ford and Harold Hogan of Detroit will interpret what African-American life was like in 1840.
There’s also plenty of singing and dancing at the Trail of History. The Janesville (Wis.) Fife & Drum Corps will be in attendance, along with the Heritage Music and Dance Society from Burlington, Wis., and the Illinois-Wisconsin Borderline Cloggers dance troupe. Barb Kotula of Wheaton is a voyageur singer, Bill Smillie of Grayslake plays the bagpipes, and Clifford Long from Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music plays traditional instruments.
Unfortunately, the log cabin at the campsite, which was constructed at the 1991 Trail of History, was struck by lightning in July and burned to the ground. “So what will happen this year is that the `family’ that was burned out will rebuild their cabin,” Collins said. “With the help of their `neighbors,’ of course. That’s the frontier way.”
There are plenty of games for kids, though they might not be familiar to anyone weaned on MTV and Nintendo. Indian and pioneer games will include roll the hoop, sack races, ring toss, spear toss, stilt walking and an early form of baseball called “doubleball.” There will also be a trading post for kids.
And if the hike to the campsite whets your appetite, don’t worry. There will be plenty of hunter’s stew, fry bread, apple cider, hot soups, turkey jerky, beef jerky, venison sticks, buffalo burgers and homemade root beer and caramel popcorn available from booths run by the Loyal Order of Raccoons of McHenry and the Community Church of Richmond
Hamilton, the stone tool maker, said he speaks for many re-enactors when he calls the Trail of History a top-flight event.
“First of all, it’s in an excellent location,” he said. “The McHenry County Conservation District really goes out of its way for this event, and it’s obvious how much work goes into the event. There’s just so much education there. It’s easy to come away with a greater appreciation for what the men, women and children who came before us went through.”
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The Trail of History is held at Glacial Park Conservation Site, located at 6512 Harts Rd. off Illinois Highway 31, about halfway between McHenry and Richmond. Hours for both Saturday, Oct. 16, and Sunday, Oct. 17, are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $3 for adults and $1 for senior citizens and children age 6 to 13. Children under 6 are admitted free.
The event will be held rain or shine. “Of course, it’s more fun if it doesn’t rain,” said Ed Collins, one of the event’s organizers. Comfortable walking shoes are strongly advised, and cameras are encouraged. A handicapped-accessible shuttle service to the campsite is available throughout the day. Pets are absolutely not allowed at the Trail of History. Advance tickets are available. Call 815-678-4431 for information.
