Day trail heads to historic Indiana farmstead

Chellberg Farmhouse at Indiana Dunes National Park, NPS photo.

Chellberg Farm Trail map. NPS.

Day hikers can visit a historic Midwest homestead from the 1800s on the Chellberg Farm Trail at Indiana Dunes National Park.

The 1.7-miles round trip described here is the northern segment of the rustic Bailly Homestead/Chellberg Farm Trail. A variety of other historical places – including the Bailly homestead and the Bailly cemetery – are nearby.

To reach the trailhead, from Chicago go east on U.S. Hwy. 12 or from Michigan City, Ind., head west on the same road. In the Porter, Ind., area, turn east onto Oak Hill Road/County Road 1350 N then right/south onto Howell Road. Park in the Mnoké Prairie lot across the road from the entry to the Indiana Dunes Environmental Learning Center.

Swedish immigrants
The trail heads east from the lot. In 0.2 miles, you’ll reach one of the many loops in the Baily/Chellberg Trails System. Go left/north onto the loop, which passes through a peaceful forest of maple, beech, basswood and oak trees.

During the mid-1800s until the Great Depression, this area of Indiana – known as Baillytown –attracted a number of Swedish immigrants, who formed a close-knit community. Among them was the Kjellberg family, who emigrated to the United States in 1863.

At 0.5 miles from the trailhead, the trail reaches a junction that connects to the Bailly Cemetery and the Little Calumet River Trail. Continue to the Chellberg Farm by going straight-right/east.

Just six years after arriving in America, the Kjellbergs bought the 80-acre property now known as the Chellberg Farm. They paid a mere $12 an acre.

The trail soon curves south then east again. In 0.8 miles from the trailhead, it reaches the historic Chellberg Farm.

Historic farm buildings
Several historic buildings can be explored on the homestead.

Among the most popular of them is the farmhouse. Built in 1885, its folk Victorian style was common across the United States at the time. The red brick facade is made of porter brick, which was created from nearby clay.

The barn is slightly older than the farmhouse. Constructed sometime during the 1870s, it is nearly 51 feet long by 25 feet wide and 25 feet tall. A three-bay structure with gabled roof, several improvements were made to it over the years, including the addition of a silo in 1917 and a concrete floor in 1938.

Two other common farm buildings of the era that still exist on the site are the corncrib and the granary. The Kjellbergs (or Chellbergs, as they became known) over the generations used several types of corncribs; the one now standing was built in 1941. The granary is the two-story, wooden building west of the farmhouse.

Also on the property is a maple sugar camp set up in the 1930s that is still used today. Every year in early March, the national park hosts a Maple Sugar Time festival in which visitors can tap their own syrup. Indiana Dunes is the only national park that makes maple syrup.

After taking in the historic sights, retrace your steps to the parking lot.

Day (er, Night) hike sand dunes haunted by murdered woman’s spirit on Lake Michigan

Indiana Dunes State Park. Photo courtesy of Visit Indiana.

Apparition seen at Indiana park along Lake Michigan

The otherworldly, massive dunes in Indiana constantly shift and ripple about as if an apparition, but the next ghost-like form you see there may not be a sand but the spirit of a murdered woman.

Believers in the supernatural say the spirit of Alice Marble Gray, a daughter of one of Chicago’s most powerful families, makes her home at Indiana Dunes State Park along the Lake Michigan shore. A 1.25-mile foray into the park will allow you to enjoy the beautiful dunes – and provide an opportunity to experience the scare of your life.

To reach the dunes, from Interstate 94 take the Indiana Hwy. 49 exit in Chesterton. Head north on Hwy. 49 into the park. After passing the park office, turn right. At the next junction, go right once more. Drive past three more road junctions until coming to the North Picnic Area. At the fourth junction, turn left, parking at the nature center.

Diana of the Dunes
The trailhead for the Nature Center Trail is on the parking lot’s east side. Heading in that direction, you’ll soon reach the sand dunes, which line three miles of spectacular beaches along Lake Michigan’s southern shore. Sand dunes here can rise as high as 200 feet.

The Nature Center Trail serves as the stem for a lollipop trail through the dunes. Go counterclockwise on the trail. This places you on Trail 10 as you pass a marsh. Lake Michigan is to your left beyond the dune field.

During the 1910s, local fisherman began telling the tale of Diana of the Dunes, so named because they often reported a naked woman with the body of a Greek goddess frolicking about on the dunes and swimming in the lake. One man investigating the case soon discovered the woman was none other than Alice Marble Gray, who lived in a small lakeside cottage.

As the trail veers away from the marsh, Trail 10 breaks off and heads northeast, paralleling the lake. To make a loop, instead stay on the trail going north toward the lake.

Rather than rely on her family’s fortunes, Alice worked several years as an editorial secretary for Woman’s World. Upon amassing a little wealth, she moved to the lakeshore. Then, after five years of being alone, she met Paul Wilson, a drifter. In 1922, the corpse of a brutally beaten man was found near their cottage, and police questioned them. They quickly moved away to get out of the public eye.

A happier place?
In about an eighth of a mile from where Trail 10 broke off, the loop intersects Trail 9. Go left/southwest, making the opposite side of the loop.

Three years later, Alice died – from complications arising from repeated blows Wilson had suffered upon her. Wilson fled with their children. He later was found in a California prison, but no one knows what became of their offspring.

Shortly after Alice’s death, visitors to the dunes began seeing the ghost of a beautiful nude woman. Descriptions of her bear an uncanny resemblance to the young Diana of the Dunes who was so at peace with herself. Apparently Alice’s spirit has gone to the one place where her mortal self experienced true happiness.

In about 0.4 miles, the loop junctions with the Nature Center Trail. Go right/west, returning to your vehicle.

Find out about trail guidebooks available in the Hittin’ the Trail series.