Lake Bluff History Museum is reviving the “Chautauqua-style” program — a format rooted in the village’s history as a popular late-19th century summer resort known as the Lake Bluff Camp Meeting. The resort was a premier site for the Chautauqua movement, a unique American tradition that blended entertainment, community debate and religious education.
The Museum’s Chautauqua-Style Lake Bluff Stories will honor this legacy through interactive deep dives led by local historians. Highlights include:
- Lake Bluff Icons: Remarkable Women, Local Artists, a tribute to Congressman Robert McClory
- Village Roots: Camp Meeting origins, Village Mysteries, the Lake Bluff Children’s Home
- Infrastructure & Intel: Railroad History and National Historical Documents with Seth Kaller
We’ll also be a semi-regular feature at this summer’s Lake Bluff Farmers Market.
To inspire the next generation of historians, the Museum is hosting story-time for children on Friday mornings at the Farmers Market several times this summer. These sessions are designed to make the past tangible through classic storytelling and hands-on artifacts, helping children discover how their lives in Lake Bluff connect to the broader American story.