MOUNDS Last summer, the sixth annual Whiteside County, Illinois Barn Tour was held Saturday, July 13, and Sunday, July 14, 2013, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturday, and 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Sunday. Day trippers followed a map and well-placed road signs to visit ten locations in the Albany, Erie, and Fenton, IL, area of Whiteside County. They could choose an optional 11th stop at the Albany Mounds, a surviving site of the Hopewell Indian culture. There is a park and self-guided walking trail to the sacred area that holds up to 96 burial mounds. That is the charm of a Whiteside County Barn Tour–there is more to discover than barns.
“We have a rich history to share and a great story to tell,” stated Matt Lillpop, Farm Bureau Executive Director. Participants experienced a “rural connection” as they visited each site and met many of the land owners. Besides barns, one saw antique farm equipment, livestock, weather vanes and lightning rods, and a traveling display of tools used to raise barns around Albany, Erie, and Fenton.
The tour began at RKR Landscape & Associates, Ltd., 9585 Henry Road, Morrison, IL, the business and home of R. Kent and Jalayne Riewerts. You purchased tickets and received a map and spiral-bound booklet of pen and ink drawings by David Alan Badger, which included brief histories of the tour structures. Badger took these photographs, and they were published in the Quad-City Times.
Riewerts greeted guests on his two-wheeled Segway scooter. The property featured a 1940 monitor-style barn originally owned by Ron Mickley. The center held hay and was flanked by cattle stalls. Riewerts took the barn apart and reassembled it on this location in 1970, complete with its vintage lightning rods. He also rescued and restored the tin cupola. Riewert’s twin brother’s subdivision in Long Grove, IA, is the source of the 3500-gallon, cypress water tank. A 65-foot windmill, originally owned by Ike Norman, came from north of Morrison, IL.
Added interest came from Russell Koster of Sterling, IL. He displayed a vintage trap; decorative seats that predated tractors; hay rakes; plows; seeders; a binder; and 1800’s cast iron objects. Andy Meiners delighted the chidren by having them make rope.
PHOTOS
The Bill Barkman barn, at 8780 Burns Road, Fenton, was buildt in 1877. Jack Ottosen, left, and Orville Goodenough were greeters. Morrison Historical Society Trustee Carole Patton joined these former Trustees for a photo.
Roland Klimstra posed on his farm at 10851 Elston Road, Fulton.
Lunch was available for purchase from the Whiteside County Cattleman’s Association at the fifth stop, the home of Jeff Pessman, 4796 Garden Plain Road, Fulton.