Chellberg Farm

Chellberg Farm is a preserved Swedish-American farmstead in Baillytown, tucked into woods at the edge of a ravine. Its red-brick farmhouse, old timber barn and maple-sugar shack make a short stop worthwhile if you like places where the family and working-farm story still has a physical setting. The accessible path from the shared Bailly–Chellberg lot reaches the farmhouse; a pass is required for the wider trail area. If you want more than the buildings, connected loops extend the visit through the woods and to other historic sites.

The farmhouse isn't open every day. Its rooms open during festivals, demonstrations and ranger-guided tours, and animal visits depend on scheduled programs. Check the park calendar before making an indoor tour or livestock the reason for your stop. The main lot has accessible flush restrooms, drinking water and a bottle-filling station, plus picnic tables and covered shelters.

Anders and Johanna Chellberg emigrated from Sweden in 1863 and acquired 40 acres here in 1869, adding another 40 by 1874. They were part of Baillytown, a Swedish immigrant community that began growing in the 1840s. Three generations of the family lived and farmed on this land for more than a century. You may also see the older spelling, Kjellberg, in records and maps.

The original wood-frame house burned on a cold night in December 1884, taking the family's belongings and more than 150 bushels of grain with it. The family spent the rest of that winter in the barn. The two-story brick house you see now went up in 1885, using locally made bricks from glacial clay.

The barn is the oldest surviving building, built around 1872 from nearby timber and joined with pegged mortise-and-tenon joints. In 1879 the farm had 30 chickens, eight cattle, two sheep, 11 pigs and five horses. That year it produced 100 bushels of corn, 300 pounds of butter and 50 dozen eggs—useful numbers to keep in mind when the place starts to feel like a collection of old buildings instead of a working farm.

If you catch a farmhouse tour, notice the kitchen and pantry added around 1901, the hand pump that supplied kitchen water and the hatch down to the root cellar. Most of the house was restored to its turn-of-the-century look, though the dining room had already been remodeled in the 1920s and now serves as an orientation space.

The Chellbergs ran a maple-sugar camp here for about 15 years beginning in the early 1930s. They tapped more than 100 trees a year and made roughly 55 to 60 gallons of syrup annually, hauling sap by horse and wagon or sled to an evaporator over a wood-fired oven. The 1934–35 sugar shack stands beside a ravine carved by glacial meltwater. Its wall blocks contain beach stones, including flat skipping stones and small crinoid fossils; look closely at the masonry.

The inner Bailly–Chellberg loop is 1.1 miles and the outer loop is 3.4 miles. Both add forest walking to the farm, with river crossings and links to Bailly Homestead, the cemetery and Mnoké Prairie. Expect packed soil or wood chips, some elevation changes and stairs; sections can be wet and muddy after rain. Take a trail map before setting out, since the routes branch to several historic features. For a wide farm photo, include the brick house and white barn together across the open field; the sugar-shack masonry also rewards a closer look.