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Spend Christmas with the Kelley Farmers, Take a Bob-Sled or Wagon Ride

Take a 75-minute hike along the trails at the Oliver H. Kelley Farm on Saturday, Dec. 19 from 2 to 4 p.m. to experience what Christmas was like on a 19th-century farm. Visit the farmstead and house and discover how farm families and their animals coped with the shorter days and the colder temperatures. See what preparations were made for the holidays. Horse or oxen drawn bob-sled or wagon rides will be available.

Cost is $6 per person or $4 for MHS members. Children ages 5 and under are free. Dress for outdoor weather. Warm refreshments will follow.

Oliver H. Kelley and his wife Lucy began farming the land on the banks of the Mississippi River in 1850. Kelley was the founder of the first successful national farming organization, the Patrons of Husbandry, better known as the Grange. The Kelley Farm is recognized as “The birthplace of organized agriculture in America.”

The working 1860s farm is located at 15788 Kelley Farm Rd., 2.5 miles southeast of downtown Elk River on U.S. Hwy. 10. It is a National Historic Landmark operated by the Minnesota Historical Society. For more information call 763-441-6896.

The Society’s calendar of events is posted on the Internet at events.mnhs.org/calendar. The web site also has information about all of the Society’s programs, museums and historic sites. To request a free guide to museums and historic sites, call 1-800-657-3773.

The Minnesota Historical Society is a non-profit educational and cultural institution established in 1849 to preserve and share Minnesota history. The Society collects, preserves and tells the story of Minnesota’s past through museum exhibits, libraries and collections, historic sites, educational programs and book publishing.

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