Hunting and fishing 1830s-style at New Salem historic site Saturday and Sunday

[September 17, 2013]  PETERSBURG -- Hunting and fishing on the 1830s Illinois prairie will be demonstrated during "Fur, Feather and Fin, Frontier Style," a special free event Saturday and Sunday at Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site.

Costumed interpreters will show how New Salem settlers put food on the table and clothing on their backs. Demonstrations include hunting with bow and arrow and black powder rifles, trapping and tanning hides, cooking over an open fire, and smoking meat in one of the village's smokehouses. The cellar at the tavern will be open and stocked with vegetables.

Kettle corn and lemonade will be available at the event, which runs 10 a.m.-4 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.

New Salem resident Jack Kelso made his living hunting, fishing and trapping in central Illinois during the 1830s. He could catch fish when others failed, always had venison in his smokehouse when winter set in and would sell surplus venison hams as well. Abraham Lincoln loved to go fishing and talking with Kelso, sometimes called the most misunderstood man in New Salem because he was considered lazy and worthless by some but also loved Shakespeare and poetry.

Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site, administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, is a reconstruction of the 1830s log village where the future president spent six years of his life. It is about 20 miles northwest of Springfield and 2 miles south of Petersburg on Route 97 and is open for free public tours.

[Text from file received from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency]