Reviews of Ellwood House Museum (Museum)

Ben D'Haeze

Very attractive gardens, great location for photos

Lisa Berglund

We weren't able to do a proper visit but wandering round the grounds made us put it on our list of things to do.

Kevin Fletcher

A good museum with a great tour. Lots of original details

Hasnain Attarwala

Tour guide really informational. Gave us a tour for only me and girl (since we were the only ones there in like 100 degree weather). Showed us everything didn't skip out.

Wayne Sit

Nice small museum.

Tamira Sallee

Nice tour they only walk through the houses at 1, 2, and 3

Laura B.

Beautiful historic property with something fun for all ages. Great for events and parties and has a great and knowledgeable staff.

Alice Hall

Very interesting

No Name

This is such a nice place to go, so interesting and we'll done museum.

MIKAYLA EDWARD

Beautiful place. Bright clean and extremely welcoming

Bf Blondell

Lovely tour guide! She was wonderful!

Rachael Jones

From the Visitors Center Museum to the mansion, I always discover something new. Check out the nature path if you get the chance and don't mind the possibility of getting a little dirty. Walking the grounds is NOT overrated!

Ralph Fritz

If you live in Dekalb (or your just visiting for some reason) I'd recommend dropping in the visitor center here. It's free to the public- and there's an interesting exhibit of barb wire history on the second floor.

lola bello

Took my family and it was a great experience. The cold weather was a bit annoying but the staff and tour was very informative and nice.

Kasra Ramyar

This is a surprisingly interesting view into the lives of the well heeled and their servants from the end of the 19th century into the middle of the 20th. For only $8, you spend ~1 hr getting a guided tour of the original family mansion built by barb wire fortune and subsequently updated by the sale of more barb wire. Sounds odd, but it's definitely worth doing. The architecture and recovered restored furnishings of the original residence are worth the price of admission, even if it didn't include the stories shared by the docents and guides. Definitely worth it if you are in Dekalb.

Donna Borthwick

Ellwood house museum and park put on a summer concert series, in which I attended the last one Wednesday evening. The theme was jazz and very entertaining. They also had food/drinks for purchase. Also didn't mind bringing your own.

Bill Nolan

A local gem, there is a wealth of history at this property. Our group was given a tour by Audrey and she did an incredible job educating us about the Ellwood family, house, and so much more.

Sarah Tobias

Beauty and local history all in one place. They have a wonderful Christmas tour.

Caroline Murphy

Love going here and hearing the history. Especially during their Christmas open house.

Dominic Serpico

Fun place with a lot of history for the house and area. The grounds are quite nice for just a walk!

Nan Long

Can't wait to go back, on saw the carriage house.

Aldair Vasquez

My friends and I wanted a tour, it really looks lovely but the price was not in our budget

Amber Jarratt

Surprisingly interesting. It's amazing how something so simple as barbed wire has such a big history. The tour of the Ellwood Mansion was fun, but really hot in the summer since there's no AC. Be prepared to break a sweat.

Jordan Aranda

Great stop in Dekalb.

Alexandra Dailey

Just an old town day with family and friends. Nice performance and a lot of beautiful artwork from KVAL and some cheery plant conversation with DAGC. If you needed a snack it was available.

Kathy Stock

Took the tour very interesting

Joshua Cadieux

Living history. Great to visit and see where we've come from and that heritage is being kept alive.

Matthew Bromeland

A great piece of local history!

David Petty

If barbed wire is your thing this is the place for you! Otherwise a great free museum to spend a few hours at.

Chase Renwick

Awesome tour and house.

Bernard Frederick

Wonderful tour and grounds.

Bryan Wilcher

Come check out this place. Nice family day activity.

Melissa Bechtel

The guided tour was excellent. The grounds are so beautiful. I highly recommend.

Steve Leffelman

Beautiful place for taking great pictures!

John Morel

There isn't a better place for a taste of both Victorian American culture and local history with global impact.

Pam Collins

The museum campus includes two elegant homes built by the Ellwood family. The older home, built in 1879, is fully furnished with the family's furniture and is available to be toured from March to November. This first weekend of December is always a special treat because the house is beautifully decorated for Christmas by local groups and businesses. Also, local musicians play Christmas music in the rotunda. Light refreshments are served in the visitor's center which has an excellent free exhibit about the family and their barbed wire business. Well worth a visit!

Michael Littlejohn

Its just cool old Historical history

Steve Lux

Great history and the story of the invention of barbed wire.

Lynda Quindel

There are four houses that can be viewed also a small Museum the child's Playhouse you can actually walk into the garage where they kept all their antique cars is full of photographs and memorabilia one of the small houses to view is also a museum so it's great opportunity and there's a 10-acre garden be sure to read the brochure online for X dates and what tour you were signing up for

Lynn Finnegan

Wonderful visit. This is a must see if you are in the DeKalb area.

John Williams

Beautiful place, interesting history!

JIM MITCHELL

Nice place

Al Navarro

Very nice people and cool Museum.

Michael Morales

What a nice place to visit, very nice mansion, lots of history, must go and visit.

Linda Maffie

Historic landmark, beautiful grounds.

joseph peralta

Shiiiit

Martin Daniels

Awesome museum and home

Squanto III

Dedicated staff offers great tours of this historic DeKalb house, they painstakingly decorate a late nineteenth century manor to impressive detail, based off of original photographs and the testimony of surviving Ellwood family members. Tours are of decent length, as the house is enormous, price is reasonable and a great date spot for students at Northern Illinois University.

Sy Guzman

Head's up: No photography allowed in the home. Personally, that defeats the purpose of my visit, if I can't take photos of places I've visited in my life. But you can take photos of the outside of the house and get up close to the windows and take photos of the living room as you stand on the porch. There's also a visitor center, where photos ARE allowed and you can learn about Elwood's history. Staff was pretty nice. They greeted me & told me where the restrooms are located & then they went back to work in their office. They just let me walk through the visitor center like a ghost walking through the halls. That's fine by me! I rather be a ghost than have staff drill me with questions like I have in other museums: Where are you visiting from? Where do you live? How did you hear about us? Have you visited our website? Have you visited us before? Where are you going after the museum? I'm JUST passing through... Dang!