Blackberry Farm in Aurora, Illinois, is one of those places where living history and family fun blend so seamlessly that it’s hard to tell where the museum ends and the amusement park begins. Set on 54 scenic acres around Lake Gregory, the park is operated by the Fox Valley Park District and has grown from a modest “Pioneer Park” in the late 1960s into a full-fledged living history museum and regional attraction.
Today, Blackberry Farm is best known for its costumed interpreters, hands-on historical exhibits, and its charming narrow-gauge train that circles the lake. But when the Christmas season arrives, that little train takes on a starring role as the “Holiday Express” (sometimes simply called the Holiday Train), carrying visitors through a winter wonderland of lights, music, and festive decorations.
A living history village on the prairie
Blackberry Farm traces its roots to the Fox Valley Park District’s effort to preserve local history as the region around Aurora rapidly developed. The district acquired farmland here in the 1960s and opened “Pioneer Park” in 1969 as a blend of recreation area and historic site. In the 1980s it was renamed Blackberry Farm Pioneer Village, reflecting its growing focus on interpreting 19th-century life in the Fox River Valley.
Much of the park is arranged as a small frontier community. Visitors can step inside a one-room schoolhouse, a log cabin farmhouse, a blacksmith shop, and an 1840s Aurora home, all furnished to represent everyday life in the mid-1800s. Interpreters demonstrate traditional crafts such as blacksmithing, weaving, sewing, pottery, and spinning, giving guests a tangible sense of how much effort it took to run a household or farm before modern conveniences…