Urbandale, Iowa

The smells of sweet homemade apple pie, harsh print shop ink and woodsy, smoky campfires greet guests as they take a walking tour through Iowa’s history.

Living History Farms is a 500-acre outdoor museum in Urbandale, Iowa. Visitors progress through four time periods in Iowa’s history, including a 1700 Ioway Indian tribe site, an 1850 pioneer farm, a 1900 farm and an 1875 town.

Former Iowa State University professor William Murray created the living museum in 1970 after two unsuccessful runs for Iowa governor. Jennie Derr, marketing and public relations director, said Murray decided to give back to Iowa in a different way.

“He didn’t want another museum where everything is made out of glass,” Derr said. “He wanted a working museum where people could actually visit and see how people lived in the respective time periods while also participating in hands-on activities.”

Visitors walk the self-guided tour and interact with workers at each site. The interpreters, volunteers and interns dress in period clothing, cook, work and live like they are from a different time. Every site has an “interpreter,” a worker who is an expert in the history of that site’s time period.

“Most of the interpreters have a degree in history or an advanced degree in history, so a misconception is they’re actors, and they’re not at all,” Derr said. “They are very passionate about history.”

At Living History Farms the workers don’t pretend to actually live in their time period. They reference contemporary objects and compare their actions with modern practices. Derr said they decided to do this because it makes the workers more approachable.

“[It’s] so they can also relate to things of today,” Derr said. “So for the print shop, they can relate to computers or texting. We find that interpretation works best here.”

IOWAY INDIAN SITE

From the Visitors Center, guests are transported by tractor-pulled wagon to the beginning of a wooded trail that leads to the Ioway Indian site.

The smell of burning wood greets guests as they enter the small clearing. A thatch hut, a partially completed teepee and a buffalo hide stretched across a wooden frame set the scene. Interpreter Melinda Carriker sat stitching a beaded shoe as she showed a small child handmade dolls. Carriker began working at Living History Farms 13 years ago as an intern with the program. Carriker said she is constantly learning because the tribes didn’t have much written about them.

“A lot of the tribe – once they were moved to a reservation – weren’t allowed to do the things they had done in the past, and the knowledge was lost within the tribes,” Carriker said.

Living History Farms began their research by looking through diaries and visiting modern Ioway tribes. Carriker said the best way to learn how to make things is by trial and error. Everything at the site is handmade by the staff.

“We are constantly changing things and evolving things here as we find a bit more information [and] learn a little more from different books and other sources,” Carriker said.

1850s FARM SITE

The smell of pigs and oxen greets visitors at the beginning of the 1850s farm site, but the aroma of dinner soon wafts through the stench. A tiny log cabin sits behind the livestock with doors and windows propped open to let in the cool air.

Each day the workers at the different sites cook meals for themselves and guests. At the 1850s farm, venison pie and stewed tomatoes sat on the table as guests milled around the cozy cabin. One of the women went back to the garden, disappeared in the crops and came out with ears of corn for dinner. These women explain what they are cooking, but other questions and explanations are contingent on the visitors’ interest.

Arlene Hoodjer of Des Moines, Iowa, took her three grandsons to visit Living History Farms. She said some of her grandsons had been there before but wanted to come back for a visit.

“I think they enjoyed the pioneer farm,” Hoodjer said. “It’s unique here to have the helpers tell the story of how they did it and what they did — very unique — and they are dressed according to their time, so it’s very educational.”

Hoodjer said she wanted to show her grandsons how children grew up during different time periods.

“I was raised on a farm in the 1900s, so this will bring things back,” Hoodjer said.

1900s FARM SITE

The 1900s farm has several barns, a house, a garden and crop fields. The front yard of the house, surrounded by a white picket fence, shows the progression of technology, including a water pump and a bicycle. One of the women cooking meatballs and squash answered questions about wearing period clothing. She said the clothing is vital for cooking near a hot stove because the many layers it act as a giant hot pad.

In the other kitchen area, volunteer Jodi Fisher said that the clothing not only protects skin but also cools the body.

“It’s not as bad as people think,” Fisher said. “It’s 100 percent cotton, so when the wind blows through, it actually cools your arms.”

Fisher said she came to Living History Farms when she was a intern in college and now volunteers with her 12-year-old daughter.

“I’ve always meant to come back and volunteer here because I loved it so much, and I wanted my daughter to be a part of it,” Fisher said. “I worked in the 1900s farm, when I was an intern, [and] I worked at several other places, but this was my favorite.”

She said her duties involve cooking during the day for their noon meal, and then they spend the rest of the day embroidering, knitting or tending to the garden. The family does everything from picking apples for a pie to killing chickens for dinner.

WALNUT HILL TOWN

Jennie Derr, marketing and public relations director, said when the land for the town was purchased, it included a historic home from the 1870s called the Flynn mansion.

“It was a very upper-class home for the time period, but the town around it would have been similar to what you would have found in central Iowa or anywhere in Iowa during the time period,” Derr said.

The Tangen house is the middle-class home in the town of Walnut Hill. During a visit to the house, guests can taste a meal of pork, potato salad and brownie cake.

There are several interactive shops in town, including the print shop, where guests can help set type and print. Derr said they tell children that the shop is “texting” in 1875.

“It’s very visual and very fascinating, especially to children who have grown up with computers their whole life,” Derr said. “They can see the origins of text, even fonts that are used back then are used today in our computers.”

She said the general store is a children’s favorite because it sells 25-cent candy, such as gumdrops and lemon drops. The blacksmith shop also provides interactive activities, allowing visitors to help hammer metal from the forge.

Derr said it’s the interactive qualities that make each of the Living History Farm’s sites fun for all ages and the interactions with workers that personalize the visit.

“We try to do things that interest the public,” Derr said. “[We’re] always trying to keep the public educated and offer interactive events.”