See Expert Blacksmiths In The Fantastic John Deere Historic Site
Sometimes something catches your eye but it doesn’t seem right. It raises your curiosity and makes you look closer at the details. The John Deere Historic Site is one of these places in rural Illinois. After all, you never know what you might come across while driving through small towns.
The John Deere Historic Site sits in the small town of Grand Detour, Illinois on an oxbow of land within the Rock River. From Interstate 39 at the small town of Rochelle, drive thirty minutes west for a chance to go back into the history of this American pioneer.
This may come as a surprise but don’t expect to see any tractors at the John Deere Historic Site. To begin with, they were not invented during John Deere’s lifetime. In fact, he didn’t even know what a tractor was.
In reality, John Deere’s drive to create a simple but innovative plow would define his legacy. See firsthand how his pioneering work changed agriculture forever. The John Deere Historic Site is a perfect historical experience even if agriculture isn’t on the top of your list.
Explore The John Deere Family Homestead
Travel back in time to experience what 1830s pioneer life looked like by touring the John Deere farm and homestead. The first thing you will notice as the house comes into view is its beautifully manicured and landscaped property. Take time to tour the entire site but allow plenty of time for a blacksmith demonstration.
The complete detailed tour takes about 1.5 hours with an expert tour guide. You will enjoy its easy-going tour guides because they are personable and enjoy telling John Deere’s story. So personable that one even shared vegetables from the garden with guests!
You can take the tour on your own but you’ll miss tons. For this reason, going with a tour guide is highly recommended.
Top attractions you will see on the John Deere Historic Site include an archeological site, John Deere house, statues, a natural prairie, heritage garden, vegetable garden, gift shop, and a covered pavilion for picnics.
Most importantly, the top-notch blacksmith shop and John Deere’s family home.
You should go inside John Deere’s family home for a glimpse into the past. Accordingly, it looks like they still live there and will be home for dinner.
Tip: Don’t miss the gift shop for exclusive gifts. In particular, items made in the blacksmith shop. For instance, dinner bells, hooks, plant hangers, fire pokers, and lantern stakes to name a few.
Be Amazed At This Outstanding Blacksmith Shop
Let the light aroma of burning coals welcome you into John Deere’s Prop shed. Here, you can observe an old-time tradition just like John Deere himself still worked the metal.
Even though the John Deere Historic Site turns out to be a wonderful place to experience history, the hands-on blacksmith shop is the crown jewel not to miss. To emphasize, live interactive demonstrations of this rare skill are constantly given each day. They even make gifts sold in the gift shop.
As a matter of fact, the blacksmith shop is where John Deere created the first successful commercial steel plow. His plow had a reputation for its singing sound when it broke the earth open.
Enjoy the demonstrations since blacksmithing has become a lost art. For this reason, these expert blacksmiths want to help preserve metalworking. They demonstrate their craft up close for visitors to view original techniques using tools just like those from John Deere’s era. They also make custom work so keep this in mind when visiting.
Although you can see several blacksmiths here, Rick Trahan is the historic site supervisor and an excellent storyteller. You will enjoy his humor along with a welcome willingness to interact with visitors.
Visit Nachusa Grasslands Nearby To See A Bison Herd
Located only eight miles away, visit Nachusa Grasslands where you can see a herd of over one hundred bison living freely on a natural grasslands preserve. Bison roam on 1,500 of the 3,800 acres belonging to the preserve.
Tip: Visit Nachusa Grasslands in April through June to see bison calves.
The Nachusa Grasslands preserve contains a sizable remnant prairie, woodlands, along with wetlands to explore. Here, try to discover as many of the 700 native plant species as you can, plus native animals in their natural habitat.
Learn about geology too. Its limestone plateau, called karst terrane, lies within the preserve. Learn about its landforms of porous carbonate rock formations with features of sinkholes, seeps, and natural springs and wells.
Allow plenty of time for watching wildlife, hiking, photography, bird watching, and exploring. You can also bike the 32 miles long Ogle County Nachusa Bison/John Deere Loop.
The Nachusa Grasslands is open from dawn until dusk so you can visit before or after the John Deere Historic Site.
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Important Info About The John Deere Historic Site
Accessibility For John Deere Historic Site
The entire John Deere Historic Site is handicap accessible. The site consists of smooth walkways inside and out, including easy ramps into buildings to make your visit effortless. They even have a wheelchair to borrow if anyone needs to use one.
Is The John Deere Historic Site Dog Friendly?
Yes! The John Deere Historic Site welcomes dogs if you want to bring your furry friend.
What Are The Hours And Admission Fees For The John Deere Historic Site?
The John Deere Historic Site is free for everyone.
The John Deere Historic Site is open April through October
Sunday: 1pm-5pm
Monday: Closed
Tuesday: 1pm-5pm
Wednesday-Saturday: 9 am-5 pm
Holiday hours:
Closed New Year’s Day, July 4th, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Eve
How To Get To The John Deere Historic Site
The John Deere Historic Site address:
8334 South Clinton Street
Grand Detour (Dixon), IL 61021
**Important** When entering directions into your device put John Deere Historic Site Dixon, IL otherwise directions may not be accurate.
Final Thoughts
Once again, we found a unique attraction by driving back roads through small towns. We have driven through Rochelle, Illinois on interstate 39 dozens of times while traveling between Wisconsin and Tennessee. Sure, we would stop in Rochelle occasionally because it’s a cool small town, but never outside the city limits. Mainly because we had a full day of driving without much time to spare. Regardless, we have learned to take a closer look around small towns to find unexpected experiences.
Take our word, each small town has its own personality and you will find unique things to do and see in each one. This is why you should take the backroads through small towns.
Thanks for reading See Expert Blacksmiths In The Fantastic John Deere Historic Site.
Don’t forget you can email us about any travel questions you have and leave comments below.
Tom and Kristi
See Expert Blacksmiths In The Fantastic John Deere Historic Site
16 Comments
Stefan (Berkeley Square Barbarian)
09/20/2021 at 9:14 pmGrand Detour is such a cool name for a small town, both preposterous (‘grand’) and somewhat modest (‘detour’, so it’s not a place someone would usually aim to visit).
This post and learning about the John Deere Historic Site has some personal significance to me, because I used to work a fair bit as a translator (English-German, German-English; I know!! My English is far from perfect, but I do use dictionaries a lot and do a whole lot of research, so I’ve never had any complaints about my work) and my first big project was translating a 400-page John Deere engineer’s manual from English into German. It took me more than a month but paid handsomely, well, at least by my pennyless-student standards back then haha…
The work shed has so much ambiance! I love to hear a story where a big business was built on hard work and good quality.
Tom
09/26/2021 at 9:52 pmStefan, that’s a great life experience! A 400 page engineer’s manual is some task to take on as your first project.
Lannie
09/21/2021 at 10:05 amWho knew there was more to John Deere than tractors? The blacksmith workshop looks like it’d be interesting but also a gift shop!!
The bison reserve is a perfect addition to the day too 😄
Tom
09/26/2021 at 9:55 pmHi Lannie, we thought it was something different to check out since we found out it wasn’t about tractors. Cool place to run across!
Vanessa Shields
09/21/2021 at 12:21 pmWhat a cool find! I never knew the history and was expecting a museum of a bunch of tractors at first. Interesting how the company started after he passed. The tour sounds fun and informative plus getting to see a blacksmith do a live demo!
Tom
09/26/2021 at 9:57 pmHi Vanessa, this was a totally unexpected place to find on a road trip. It was a nice surprise!
kmfiswriting
09/21/2021 at 9:04 pmI love all things history and I come from a long line of fathers. So the Expert Blacksmiths in the John Deere Historic Site sounds perfect for me!
Tom
09/26/2021 at 10:01 pmHi Karen, I think you would definitely like this. I’m (Tom) a big history fan too, and it was a nice surprise to come across
wendy white
09/22/2021 at 4:53 amI love all these interesting finds in your back road trips. The John Deere Historic Site certainly appeals to my love of history. Seeing the Blacksmiths shop in action must have been amazing.
Tom
09/26/2021 at 10:03 pmThank you, Wendy. The blacksmith shop is something you don’t want to miss. Glad to hear we’re both history fans too.
Chalk and cheese travels
09/23/2021 at 12:05 amThat blacksmith shop is so cool, what a fantastic place to visit and a unique piece of history. That’s so interesting that that John Deere was not around when the John deere tractors were made. I certainly learnt something today
Tom
09/26/2021 at 10:05 pmThanks Richard. We learned a lot too. Cool place and we would recommend it to anyone.
lensofjen17
09/27/2021 at 12:30 amI love this! Once upon a time, I was the tourism director for Illinois and this post would have made my whole day! We loved to promote the small towns when we could. Great post!
Tom
09/29/2021 at 8:23 amThanks Jen!
John Quinn
10/04/2021 at 3:25 amI did not know John Deere lived so long ago. I imagined he was some suit now in a big skyscraper office, with some rivalrous sons waiting to take over. But this sounds more interesting than a tractor farm to be honest. Good shout Tom.
Tom
10/04/2021 at 9:30 pmThanks John. We’re not really into tractors so this caused a double take to see what it was really about. We do like history and didn’t realize John Deere lived so long ago, even before the tractor was invented. This is a top notch blacksmith shop too.