Buckley Homestead, Lowell, IN

Yesterday I visited the Buckley Homestead Living History Farm in Lowell, Indiana, a county-owned facility that hosts events like we do. This weekend they hosted a very large World War II Tribute with probably 200 reenactors, over 3000 spectators, and lots of vendors and support people.

The group that runs the Late Winter WWII Tactical here at Stonehouse thought we could learn something from Buckley in terms of site set-up, event organization, and advertising, so they suggested we make the trip and see how Buckley does things.

I got to spend some time speaking with Buckley's site supervisor, whose job presents challenges much like ours. They have historic buildings and a lot of acreage, presenting the need for constant repair and maintenance. They host events both large and small on a regular basis and have to balance park maintenance with event hosting. The site supervisor has been there about 30 years and said that the most important things to have are good reliable staff, a good reliable check-list for daily, weekly, and event-specific times, and lots and lots of volunteers.

I spent a lot of time looking at their infrastructure. They have several paved roads and lots of trails. The trails are composed of bark chip over gravel. The bark chip is renewed on a yearly basis. The gravel has to be completely dug out and replaced about every 15-20 years to prevent too much build-up, but the trails were very attractive looking and the WWII guys said that they hold up even under very muddy conditions.

Of course I looked at bathroom facilities. They have several custom-built pit toilet outhouses like the one below - I was told they sit over 3000 gallon tanks which have been operational for 4 years and have never been pumped out (a great thing in my opinion - perhaps I'll explain why in a later post). Pit toilets can be kind of gross but on the other hand they can be used year-round without having to worry about pipes freezing.

This particular toilet has a papa seat, a mama seat, and a baby bear seat.

And they have a tractor just like ours!

Fighting was held in corn fields owned by the park but farmed by tenant farmers.

Camps were set up in pastures and fields around the site - pastures normally inhabited by the horses, sheep and other animals that help make Buckley a working farm and living history site.


There is one major difference between us and Buckley - they are a county operation, not privately owned. That means their focus is more on education and public service. They have a support network in the form of county construction and maintenance crews and established routes of communication and advertising, but they are constrained by bureaucracy and public regulations.


It was a fun trip and I have lots of new things to think about. We are in the baby stages of learning to do what they have become experts at doing.