May 17 – September 2, 2024 from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Included with membership/admission
Living History Farm
Step back in time and experience the captivating world of a Montana homestead from 1890 to 1910 at Museum of the Rockies' Living History Farm. This immersive exhibit transports you to a bygone era, where you'll discover the Tinsley House, outbuildings, and the picturesque gardens and groves that complete the farmstead.
The heart of the farm is the original 1889 homestead, a testament to the pioneering spirit of the settlers. As you explore, you'll encounter other meticulously recreated structures, including a milking barn, blacksmith shop, outhouse, root cellar, granary, chicken coop, and shed. Each building tells a story, offering a glimpse into the daily lives and labor of the hardworking homesteaders.
Stroll through the heirloom gardens and groves, filled with a vibrant array of vegetables, flowers, and grains that would have thrived in the region's northern agricultural areas. This living landscape showcases the resourcefulness and self-sufficiency of the homesteaders as they utilized what they had to build their homes, grow food, and create a sense of community.
At the Living History Farm, you'll gain a profound appreciation for the rich agricultural history of Montana and the resilience of those who called this land home. Daily chores were integral to their lives, from cooking and water hauling to wood chopping and milking. As the seasons changed, specialized labor like sowing crops, shearing sheep, harvesting, and preserving food followed suit, ensuring survival and sustainability.
Even social activities took on a practical nature, with quilting bees, sewing circles, and barn-raisings becoming community gatherings intertwined with helpful work. Step into their world and discover the Montana homesteaders' enduring spirit and unwavering dedication.
Come and experience the Living History Farm, where the past comes alive, and the stories of Montanana's ancestors unfold before your eyes.
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Join us for these Special Events
The proceeds from the events benefit the Living History Farm's educational mission.
Crafting with the Tinsleys
Saturday, July 6, 2024
10 a.m. – 5 p.m. | Tinsley House
Included with membership/admission.
Discover the crafts of the 1890s at the Tinsley house with the Bozeman Weavers Guild. Learn about weaving, sewing, and more, and try your hand at creating your own decorative items.
Learn about the crafts that were common during the 1890s and how homesteaders crafted rugs, quilts, and other decorative items for their homes. Come down to the Tinsley house and discover the art of weaving, sewing, and other similar skills. You can also try them for yourself with the support of the Bozeman Weavers Guild.
Indigikitchen Cooking Class: A Taste of Indigenous Foods
Friday, August 9, 2024
5 p.m. | Tinsley House
$75/person
Registration is required.
Indigenous foods are the traditional foods of Native North Americans, which were cultivated and harvested for generations. Unfortunately, many of these foods were intentionally removed from our diets during colonial times. However, Mariah Gladstone is leading a food movement to revive these important foods and incorporate them into modern diets. In a cooking class led by Mariah Gladstone, you can learn to harvest, prepare, and enjoy a full meal of authentic indigenous recipes..
Mariah Gladstone, Piikuni (Blackfeet) and Tsalagi (Cherokee), grew up in Northwest Montana on and near the Blackfeet Reservation. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Environmental Engineering and returned home, where she began her work on food advocacy. She developed Indigikitchen, an online cooking platform, to revitalize and re-imagine Native foods. She then earned a master’s at SUNY-ESF in the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment. Mariah has been recognized as a Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellow. She has shared the importance of reconnecting to traditional foods at events throughout North America and abroad, as well as through appearances on the Today Show, CBC, and more. In addition to all this, Mariah spends her summers on the Blackfeet homelands providing a variety of cultural experiences to visitors in and around Glacier Park.
Register Today via this LinkIndigikitchen Cooking Class: A Recipe for Resilience
Saturday, August 10
5 p.m.| Tinsley House
$75/person
Registration is required
Indigenous lifestyles have been resilient over the years, and one way to celebrate this is by incorporating locally harvested pre-contact foods into modern kitchens. Unfortunately, many native North American foods, both cultivated and harvested, were removed from our diets through intentional colonial efforts. Mariah Gladstone is at the forefront of a food movement that aims to revitalize and reintroduce these important foods into our contemporary diets. Through a brief presentation on Indigenous food systems and the relationship between cultural identity, health, and native plants and animals, participants will harvest, prepare, and enjoy a full meal of original indigenous recipes.
Mariah Gladstone, Piikuni (Blackfeet) and Tsalagi (Cherokee), grew up in Northwest Montana on and near the Blackfeet Reservation. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Environmental Engineering and returned home, where she began her work on food advocacy. She developed Indigikitchen, an online cooking platform, to revitalize and re-imagine Native foods. She then earned a master’s at SUNY-ESF in the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment. Mariah has been recognized as a Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellow. She has shared the importance of reconnecting to traditional foods at events throughout North America and abroad, as well as through appearances on the Today Show, CBC, and more. In addition to all this, Mariah spends her summers on the Blackfeet homelands providing a variety of cultural experiences to visitors in and around Glacier Park.
Register Today via this LinkHighlights include:
Missourian William Tinsley traveled to Montana in 1864 to stake his own homestead claim in Willow Creek, Montana. William and his soon-to-be wife, Lucy Ann Nave, met in Virginia City, Montana, where William worked for the Wells Fargo Stage Company and Lucy worked as a seamstress.
After William and Lucy were married, they moved to William’s 160-acre homestead claim in Willow Creek and built a modest one-room cabin in 1867. Eight children and 20 years later, the Tinsley family began building the house that is now the MOR Living History Farm centerpiece. The Tinsley family occupied this house on the original homestead claim until around 1920.
Museum of the Rockies acquired the Tinsley House in 1986 which helped complete the plans for a working Living History Farm exhibit. The house was moved from Willow Creek, Montana, in one piece and restored to its original 1890s condition. After restoration, the house was dedicated as part of Montana’s Centennial on Statehood Day, November 8, 1989.
Today, costumed interpreters work this farm as Montana homesteaders would have done in the 1880s and 1890s. During the summer months, this exhibit is busy with gardeners tending the garden, people cooking the noontime meal, and the blacksmith creating ironworks with the coal fire forge.
As visitors pass through the entrance to the farm, the wildflower garden is located to the right of the walkway. Wildflowers in this garden include Indian paintbrush, lupine, yarrow, blue flax, blanket flower, asters, evening primrose, coreopsis, and others. All plants are native to the Rocky Mountain region and most are native to Montana. Lewis and Clark identified many of these plants in their journals. Some plants are edible and others have medicinal purposes. Some are toxic. These flowers were available to homesteaders and added beauty to the homestead.
The farm garden includes vegetables, flowers, herbs, and fruit-bearing bushes. An heirloom plant is one that is propagated from seed and has been available for 50 years or more. The plant varieties in the Living History Farm’s heirloom farm garden were all available in 1905 or earlier. The museum aims to create a garden similar to those used in 1890 to 1905. Open pollination is required which is not used today in large scale or commercial production. Original homesteaders brought seeds with them because they were small and easy to transport. By the late 1800s, seeds could be ordered from various company seed catalogs.
The grove honors Marilyn Freeman Wessel, dean and director of Museum of the Rockies from 1997 to 2003. The grove was a gift to the museum from her many friends and colleagues and dedicated on July 24, 2003.
The grove represents a shelterbelt of native trees and shrubs and is located on the southwest corner of the Living History Farm grounds.
The apple orchard was a gift from the Bozeman Board of Realtors and dedicated on Arbor Day, April 28, 1989.
Montana celebrated its centennial in 1989.
The orchard is fenced and located on the southeast side of the Living History Farm grounds.