Will County Forest Preserve opens farm exhibit Friday

People can get a look at Will County’s rural roots at an historical exhibit that opens Friday.

The Forest Preserve District of Will County has created the “Raising Riverview” exhibit at its Isle a la Cache Museum in Romeoville. The exhibit runs through May 31 and highlights the Riverview Farmstead Preserve in Naperville.

Jen Guest, facility director at the museum, called the Riverview Farmstead one of the forest preserve’s “most unique sites” in a news release announcing the exhibit.

“Visitors who experience the exhibit will learn more about how it transformed through the years from vast prairie to booming farm to beautiful preserve,” Guest said in the release.

The free exhibit is open during museum hours, which are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays through Saturdays and noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays. Isle a la Cache Museum is located at 501 E. Romeo Road (also 135th Street).

“The “Raising Riverview” exhibit will focus on the Clow family and the farm they created in the 1800s along the DuPage River in a section of Wheatland Township that is now in southern Naperville,” according to the release. “The exhibit will feature the tools, grit and resources needed to build a successful farm and community.”

The Riverview Farmstead is located at a 388-acre preserve on Book Road south of Hassert Boulevard (also 111th Street). The site has three historic farmstead structures – two barns and a limestone house. The preserve paths along the DuPage River and a prairie.

Upcoming programs include Armchair Historians – Riverview Farmstead, which will be 6:30-7:30 p.m. on March 20 at the Isle a la Cache Musuem. An interpretive naturalist will tell of the struggles and successes that shaped the Clow family and their community in the 19th and 20th centuries. The free program is available to visitors 16 or older. Registration is required by March 19.

A Rivierview Farmstead tours will be provided on April 20 at the Riverview Farmstead Preserve. The 90-minute tours will be at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. The free tours are available to people ages 12 and older. Registration is requred by April 18.