Going Back in Time at the Harn Homestead

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post for Harn Homestead. However, all opinions are 100% of my own.

 

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Since moving back home to Oklahoma City a few years ago I have been dreaming of the day I would get to go on a field trip with one of my babies to the Harn Homestead. If you were raised in, or went to grade school in the Oklahoma City metro, you know what the Harn Homestead is. In my memories it was a long trip, to a super cool farm where they taught you about the olden days and churned their own butter.

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Farmhouse

I have always had very fond memories of the homestead and after re-visiting now in my thirties – I totally get why. It has a certain magic about it and the history is amazing and extremely well preserved. This museum is right in the heart of the city and is 10 acres of Oklahoma beauty untouched for over 100 years.

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The history of the Harn Homestead stems back to The Land Run of 1889. In order to solve land disputes, then President Benjamin Harrison appointed William Fremont Harn to be a land commissioner in Oklahoma Territory.

William and his wife, Alice, moved to Oklahoma Territory and purchased 160 acres which is where the Harn Homestead Museum exists today. William gifted Alice a Victorian, Queen Ann style, home that he had delivered fully assembled from Chicago in 1904. The house is just beautiful even after all these years – it is by far my favorite on the property.

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Alice Harn’s Victorian Home built in 1904.

My three amigos and I chose our very last day of summer to visit the Homestead. I envisioned driving way out into the country from my stellar grade-school memory, so I was absolutely shocked when I saw where the Homestead is located. It is literally a stones throw away from our State Capitol.

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We pulled into the parking lot and after a short speech from me about how we need to be on our best behavior, we headed inside through the Harn gate. This museum truly is a treasure to our city. It is a majestic, step back into time, hands-on, amazingly pristine history lesson right in the heart of OKC.

They have a territorial farmhouse, one-room schoolhouse, working barn, Victorian house, Cellar, and a really cool event barn that they rent out for events (if you joined us for Mom Prom – you know how great this place is!). The grounds are beautiful and really makes you envision what it was like to live life as a settler.

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Event Barn
Very cool one-room school house.
Very cool one-room school house.

The Gazebo was by far my babies favorite and they laughed for a solid 10 minutes when we got to the cows at the working barn. If you have not ventured to this museum yet, I would highly recommend it for you and your family. It just blows my mind that 10 acres of extremely well-preserved, territorial farmland has remained just as it was for over 100 years in the middle of our city.

Gazebo was a big hit with my sweeties.
The Gazebo was a big hit with my sweeties.

The Museum has some really awesome events coming up this year which include:

Haunt The Harn – A trick or treating event held on the 4th Thursday in October.

Territorial Christmas – Kids get to meet with Santa and tour the buildings after-hours, and is held the 1st Thursday in December.

Fandango – This is the Museums annual fundraiser that is 21 and up, and is a boots and jeans version of a black tie gala.

My kids favorite cows of all time.

My kids favorite cows of all time.

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katyjohnson
I was born and raised in Edmond, OK and after high school I attended NSU in Tahlequah where I majored in broadcast journalism. I met my husband Will while in school and we moved to his home town of Tulsa to begin our family where we resided for 8 years. We were relocated back to OKC about 3 years ago and while I really miss my Tulsa friends, I absolutely LOVE being home. We have 3 crazy, super loud, extremely fun kiddos ages 8, 6, and 4. My kids are my everything and I could have never anticipated the roller coaster of chaos that is my life now. We live on 5 acres in Guthrie and I am terrified and also very excited for this next chapter in our lives. My favorite things are spending time with family & friends, music, going to the lake, reading, gardening, cherry blow pops, Dr. pepper, crafting, cleaning, and fireworks. We are trying to raise our kids to be kind, loving, respectful human beings and to truly understand that no two humans are the same and to love people for who they are. I am very excited to share my sweet yet crazy family with you and connect with other moms!

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