Lake Bluff History Museum is launching its first-ever podcast series. In honor of the USA’s 250th anniversary, we’ve teamed with the LBStyle250 committee to create 16 episodes of curated local history — totaling 250 minutes of storytelling.
Join museum co-founder Kathy O’Hara and Joanna Rolek (director of Lake Forest/Lake Bluff Chamber of Commerce) as they discuss Lake Bluff’s most fascinating chapters. Whether you’re a lifelong resident, curious newcomer or a far-away bluffer who left your heart in the village, this series offers a front-row seat to the legends, scandals and triumphs that define Lake Bluff.
What to Expect:
- Audio & Video: Watch the conversations or listen on the go
- Expert Insight: Deep dives into the Artists Colony, Crab Tree Farm mysteries, Gen. MacArthur’s “kidnapping,” secrets of the Rondout Train Robbery, just what is a Chautauqua? … and more.
View from the Bluff Podcast launches spring 2026.
Here’s a list of episodes; release dates will be added here soon:
1: Introduction: Why Lake Bluff?
2: The First Families: Cloes and Dwyers
3. A Daughter of Chautauqua: The Lake Bluff Camp Meeting
4. Banning Booze: Lake Bluff’s Role in the Prohibition Movement
5. A Haven for Children: The Lake Bluff Children’s Home
6. A Bohemian Presence: The Artists Colony in Lake Bluff
7. Lake Bluff and Great Lakes Navy Base
8. Crab Tree Farm: Part 1: The Durands
9. Crab Tree Farm: Part 2: The Bad Boy of Crab Tree Farm and Other Misdeeds (Jack Durand)
10. The Most Patriotic Town in America
11. The Diva of Center Avenue
12. Crime and Controversy: Rondout Train Robbery and the Furnace Mystery
13. Shadows Over the Bluff: Secrets, Suspicions and the Train to Crystal City (spys)
14. The Day the General Went Missing: Kidnapping of Gen. MacArthur
15. The Admen Madmen of Lake Bluff
16. Uptown Downtown All Around the Town: history of the downtown