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'Conner Prairie' is a living history museum in Fishers, Indiana, USA, that preserves the historic William Conner farm and recreates part of life in Indiana in the 19th century on the White River. It is said to be one of the most realistic living history museum in the United States, next to Colonial Williamsburg.

Contents

History and Development

Layout and concept

Attractions

Conner house

1886 Liberty Corner

1836 Prairietown

Lenape Camp

External links

History and Development

Conner Prairie was begun when pharmaceutical executive Eli Lilly donated the Conner home and surrounding farm to the Quaker liberal arts school, Earlham College in the early 1960s. Earlham ran Conner Prairie as a wholly-owned subsidiary and it grew from a local tourist attraction and educational outreach for the College into the highly regarded instutution it is today. As Conner Prairie gained increasing strength and indepencence, tension developed with Earlham. After a lentghty and contentious legal struggle with Earlham, the museum became completely independent as a result of a plan brokered by Indiana's attorney general. Conner Prairie now has its own board of directors and maintains its own finances and endowment fund.

Layout and concept

The museum grounds are divided into several sections, where different eras in history are recreated to create a kind of living timeline. Staff in period costumes demonstrate the way early inhabitants in the area lived. They explain their livestyles in character while performing chores such as cooking, chopping wood, making pottery, and tending to animals. Patrons are often invited to join in the activities.
The museum's main building, called the Museum Center, contains the entrance lobby, ticket sales counter, restaurant, banquet hall, and gift shop. The gift shop sells pottery made by the museum's costumed staff as well as more conventional souvenirs.
Conner Prairie serves as the summer home of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. The Friday/Saturday Symphony on the Prairie concert series, sponsored by Marsh Supermarkets, attracts some 90,000+ concertgoers each year, a substantial percentage of Conner Prairie's annual visitor count.

Attractions

Conner Prairie features several permanent attractions and numerous semi-regular events, including "Mystery on the Prairie" murder mystery evenings, the Headless Horseman ride in the autumn, candlelight tours, and country fair. It also hosts Civil War re-enactments, and Christmas holiday events and dinners.

Conner house

The genuine Conner brick house and barn are preserved as a museum. Visitors can hear about how early Hoosiers cooked, spun and dyed thread and yarn, and cared for their animals and crops.

1886 Liberty Corner

Liberty Corner recreates a rural community in 1886, with a schoolhouse, Quaker meeting house, authentic covered bridge, and farm (Victorian home and three-bay bank barn). Visitors might even catch a vintage base ball game.

1836 Prairietown

Prairietown recreates a pioneer community in 1836, with a blacksmith shop, pottery shop, inn, doctor's office, schoolhouse, and several residences. Visitors arriving early in the day might help with morning chores.

Lenape Camp

Lenape Camp recreates bark and cattail mat wigwams and a fur trade camp with a log cabin. Visitors can learn how the Lenape (Delaware Indians) lived in Indiana and hunted and trapped animals to trade with white fur traders.

External links

★ Conner Prairie website