Located within Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park, the living history program at Historic Forestville involves the use of first-person role-playing, which allows visitors to see what the town was like through the eyes of the Meighen family and their paid workers in 1899.

Visitors are guided through interpretive stations that include the store, house, kitchen, garden, granary, carriage barn, and barn and cornfield, where they meet a variety of characters from the town. In each area, the costumed interpreters talk about their characters' lives, usually using (or talking about) significant artifacts that relate to their areas. Guided tours take about 45 to 60 minutes.

Because of historic preservation concerns with the hundreds of original artifacts in the store and residence, all tours are guided by friendly, informative characters from 1899. This gives visitors a chance to ask questions and interact directly with the past. Once outside, visitors can move at their own pace, and get a hands-on approach to 19th-century crops and field work. A new reconstructed barn, although not included in the living history program, provides a visitor service station near the end of the tour, with restrooms and a small museum shop.

Location:
Inside Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park boundaries.
Between Preston and Spring Valley, about 30 miles south of Rochester.

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VISITOR ALERT

Road Construction: Road work will begin near Historic Forestville and Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park after Labor Day, but the historic site will remain open during the project at it's current scheduled seasonal hours. Reconstruction of County State Aid Highway 5 between the park entrance road (County 118) and Minnesota Trunk Highway 16 near Wykoff is scheduled to begin as early as Sept. 14. Detours will be in effect. For additional details, please contact the historic site at 507-765-2785.