The popular Logs to Lustrons Tour returns on May 2, featuring 11 northwest Indiana sites spanning over a century of architecture, from rustic log structures of early settlement days, frame homes from the Victorian period, and mid-century homes of glass, stucco, and metal.

Guided tours leave from the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center every 30 minutes from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Central. Participants will travel by shuttle while park rangers provide overviews of the historic sites, including four landmarks open for interior viewing and a stop at the Beverly Shores Depot Museum, where attendees can view a brick-making demonstration and test their building skills in a Lincoln Log contest. Tourgoers will be able to stop inside the early twentieth-century Oscar and Irene Nelson House, the 1880 Burstrom Chapel, the nineteenth-century Gust Lindstrom House, and the 1950 Jacob Lustron. The nearby Chellberg Farm will also be open for self-guided exploration from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Central.

Children who join the tour (with an adult) can earn a Junior Ranger badge by picking up a workbook, program, and a bag with sketch book and pencil when they check-in. At the end of the tour, they show the completed workbook to a park ranger at the check-in site to earn a badge.

After the tour, a guided hike offers deeper exploration of the area’s rich history with retired National Park Ranger Cliff Goins. Offered with a separate ticket, the two-mile hike features Bailly Homestead, where fur trapper Joseph Bailly first established his trading post along the Little Calumet River in 1822. Today, the site’s rare collection of nineteenth-century structures, built by Bailly and his descendants, is a National Historic Landmark.

Indiana Landmarks and Indiana Dunes National Park are hosting the tour and hike.

Logs to Lustrons Tour

WHAT: Logs to Lustrons Tour featuring 11 sites spanning a century of architecture

WHEN: May 2, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Central. The tour lasts approximately 3.5 hours.

WHERE: Shuttles depart from the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center, 1215 N. State Road 49, Porter, Ind. No parking is available at the tour sites. All guests must use the shuttles.

COST:$ 40 per person ($35 for Indiana Landmarks members). Children under 16 are welcome and free but must have a ticket. Tickets available at indianalandmarks.org/logs-to-lustrons-tour-2026

Bailly Homestead Hike

WHAT: Guided hike, rated easy to moderate, highlighting the landscape and history of Bailly Homestead

WHEN: May 2, 12:15-2:15 p.m. or 3-5 p.m. Central

WHERE: Indiana Dunes National Park, Chellburg Farm, 1100 N. Mineral Springs Rd., Porter, Ind.

COST: $20 per person ($15 for Indiana Landmarks members) with advance registration. Tickets available at indianalandmarks.org/bailly-homestead-hike

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Media contact:

Blake Swihart, Director, Indiana Landmarks’ Northwest Field Office, 219-947-2657, bswihart@indianalandmarks.org