Bailly Homestead and Cemetery: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

Regions 3, 4, & 5 Park Cultural Landscapes Program

Inventory Unit Description: The Bailly Homestead is an iconic historic property within the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore at the southern tip of Lake Michigan near the town of Porter, Indiana. The Bailly Homestead is situated within the western edge of the East Unit of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore near the Calumet River. The immediate 2.7-acre homestead site contains five structures including the Main House, Brick House, Two-Story Log House, Storehouse, and Chapel. Together, these buildings represent the historic core of the nineteenth century homestead. The site is named for its principal founder, Joseph Bailly, a prominent fur trader in the Great Lakes region. Around 1822, Bailly received a license to trade at the Calumet and Little Calumet Rivers in northern Indiana and established a homestead on the Little Calumet River. After the death of Bailly in 1835, his descendants altered the building and landscape through 1917. A series of subsequent owners modified the features of the property until the acquisition by the NPS in 1971. Preservation initiatives since incorporation into the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore have continued to the present. The Bailly Homestead has significance for its association with the Joseph Bailly Family, a prominent family which was headed by a well-known fur trader in the region, and for the cultural landscape and buildings which retain integrity from the Bailly Family occupation. The period of significance for the Bailly Homestead begins ca. 1822, when Joseph and Marie Bailly established the homestead, and ends in 1918. Their last living granddaughter, Frances Rose Howe, died in 1917, and the property was sold in 1918. The Bailly Homestead complex, including the cemetery to the north, was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1962. A National Register Nomination prepared in 1978, lists the Homestead as having state significance tied to its architecture, commerce, and exploration. The Bailly Homestead in Porter County, Indiana, retains limited aspects of its historic fabric and character providing a sense of connection to one of the region’s prominent pioneering families. Contributing features of the historic landscape are those associated with the Bailly family during the period beginning ca. 1822 and ending in 1918. Since that time, numerous changes have resulted in the removal of landscape features. Despite the small number of remaining landscape features, the relatively low impact of new, non-historic features offers a simplified manifestation of the historic landscape that can be interpreted. The landscape of the Bailly Homestead retains integrity of location, design, setting, and association.

Bailly Homestead and Cemetery: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

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