Perry Farm Living History

[Click images to enlarge]

Native Arrowhead War Points

Native Americans known as the Mascouten, Illini, Kickapoo and Pottawatomi at one time or another in the past have called land along the Kankakee River home. There are indications that these tribes and ancient Woodland and Mississippian people lived and hunted on what is today the Perry Farm Park and surrounding land. Artifacts related to these tribal cultures will be displayed by the Bourbonnais Township Park District when a dedicated museum becomes available. The artifacts shown at left (click image to enlarge) were found on the Perry Farm grounds. Archaeological evidence indicates that in various sites on the farm stones were chipped smaller on site to make them easier to carry back to a village, where they would become fashioned into tools and arrow points. Red ochre, a substance used in body painting, also was found in an excavation on the farm. The substance is not found nearby and shows trading existed between distant villages.

The Potawatomi people were the last Native Americans to live within Kankakee County. And it might be noted that the local Potawatomi helped Thomas Durham, when he came to Bourbonnais Grove with his family in 1835, by building their first shelter, a wigwam of boughs.

The Perry Farm Park is home to a unique natural formation along the Kankakee River, commonly known as the "Indian Caves". Although the Native Americans did not live in these caves, any entrance to the earth such as these would have been considered sacred. Legend associated with these "caves" also claims that a hermit, sometimes referred to as a "monk," created a meager shelter in this ravine by nailing material to the rocks.

most of the Illinois Territory sparsely populated until 1816, the majority of the non-Native American population lived in the southern part of the state. When the Native Americans of the territory then gave up claim to large tracts of lands after the war of 1812, emigrants began pushing northward from southern states.

For Virginia-born Thomas Durham, the urge to move north may have been motivated by his

Perry Farm Three-bay English Barn Built by Thomas Durham

Quaker background and his dislike of slavery. Within a few years after settling in along the Bourbonnais Trace, a road that ran past his farm, Durham built a two story home. Today that original house is the core of the current Perry farmhouse. He also built a three-bay English barn and a horse barn during the 1840's. The three-bay English barn is shown to the right (click image to enlarge).

Martha Durham, one of Durham’s daughters, later married a Vermont stone mason and farmer named David Perry. The Perry’s lived across the Bourbonnais Trace (now Kennedy Drive) from the current Perry Farmhouse and bought the property from Durham in 1866. Perry further improved on the farmhouse by adding rooms.

It might be noted that Thomas Durham is recognized as the first American born settler of Bourbonnais Grove. He is buried approximately 50 yards from the Perry Farmhouse and a marker notes the location.

Lomira Perry was the last heir to the farm in the Perry line; and, in her 1961 will, she left the farm in trust to the State of Illinois upon her death.

Perry Farmhouse Today

Perry’s vision for the future of the Perry Farm became a reality. When the State of Illinois inherited the 170-acre piece of land from the will of Ms. Perry, plans for the future were uncertain. Ms. Perry’s will provided that at least 40 acres must be used for a park that would have the name “Perry” as part of it. Questions then arose as to who would maintain the property and whether it would be developed or left in its natural state.

The struggle for control came to the forefront with an article in The Daily Journal on May 9, 1985. The article, entitled "There’s a will: Way sought to get Perry project on track,” expressed the opposing viewpoints of the Kankakee County Convention and Visitors’ Bureau and the Bourbonnais Township government. According to the article, “The land was willed to the State of Illinois by Lomira Perry to be used as a park and recreational facility and kept in its natural setting with a part to be developed commercially to finance the natural and recreational portions.”

With the direction of Lomira Perry’s will as a guide, the State of Illinois awarded the property to a then newly created and separate taxing body known as the Bourbonnais Township Park District. The Bourbonnais Township park district continues to maintain the Perry Farm Park with its 170 acre campus.

The core of the Perry farmhouse, shown above as it appears today (click image to enlarge) was built by Thomas Durham in the late 1830's and early 1840's. Visitors may tour the farmhouse Monday-Friday 8:00 am-5:00 pm, as well as stroll the grounds, view the barns, and even feed the ponies, goats, and other barnyard animals during regular park hours. See the Perry Farm Slide-Show for some of the sites and displays you can view in person at Perry Farm.

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