Open April 1-April 30, 2007

Ellwood House is pleased to host the traveling exhibit entitled Farm Life: A Century of Change for Farm Families and Their Neighbors. A special opening reception will be hend Sunday, April 1, 2007 2-4pm at the Ellwood House Visitor Center.

A number of special programs are being offered in conjunction with this exhibit. Guided visits together with a variety of hands-on activities for elementary classes and other groups may be book for mornings or afternoons Monday-Friday during the month of April. Teachers and 4-H and FFA advisors are invited to contact the museum office to schedule a visit.

The exhibit is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Mid-America Arts Alliance. The exhibit was originally organized by the Chippewa Valley Museum in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Exhibit runs through December 16, 2007.

“Prairies: A Personal and Policy Perspective” by Anita Zurbrugg,American Farmland Trust, Thursday, November 29, 7:30pm. Free program.

The Ellwood House Museum Visitor Center is hosting a fall special exhibit of watercolors, “Prairie Roots: Paintings by Charlotte Rollman and Gingie Noe.”

“Prairie Roots” will be on exhibit at Ellwood House Museum through December 16. Exhibit hours are 12:30pm to 4:30pm Tuesday through Sunday. Free parking is available near the museum’s entrance off Augusta Avenue.

Both Rollman and Noe are inspired by nature with its brilliant array of colors. Each artist, however, portrays this landscape differently.

Rollman and Noe decided to work together on the “Prairie Roots” exhibit because of their shared heritage as Midwesterners and their deep appreciation of its familiar landscape. They especially wanted to pay tribute to Paul Sorensen, NIU Professor Emeritus in Biological Sciences, and Terry Hannan of the DeKalb County Forest Preserve District, for their roles in keeping such beauty alive for our area. The Paul Sorensen Prairie at Afton Forest Preserve is the setting of many of the 30 paintings in this show.

Virtually all of the work in the exhibition is for sale.

Watch for 2008 dates of New Docent Training Sessions. Please call 815-756-4609 for more information or email ellwoodhouse@tbc.net.

Interested in history? Enjoy meeting new people? Ellwood House volunteer guides give guided tours of the Ellwood mansion. Tours are offered daily Tuesday through Sunday from March to early December and include all four floors of the elegantly restored mansion.

New docents will learn about the Ellwood family, the architecture and history of the Ellwood House and what life was like in the late 19th and early 20th century. Volunteers will be provided with all of the tools necessary for giving a fun and educational tour experience to Ellwood House visitors from near and far.