Perhaps you’ve imagined one of the region’s oldest homesteads as a bed-and-breakfast inn.
Or a boutique hotel, or a wedding chapel. Or an office building including a canoe and kayak service.
Any of those or other ideas could become a reality in a few years at the Bailly Homestead, in Indiana Dunes National Park.
Joseph Bailly, a fur trader and one of the area’s first European residents, established his trading post there in 1822, next to the Little Calumet River in Porter County. A log house was added about a decade later, with more additions and remodeling in the late 1800s.
Bailly Homestead has been part of the national park since 1971.
It sits within walking distance of the national park’s Chellberg Farm and the park’s headquarters, in the town of Porter.
The national park, which is about to begin a major rehabilitation of the Bailly Homestead’s main building, is looking for ideas on “adaptive reuse” of the historic structure and four nearby buildings, by someone who would operate the site under a long-term lease or a concession contract with the park.
The term of the lease or concession contract could range from 10 years to 60 years.
“There are so many possibilities,” said Steve Rossi, the park’s concessions management specialist. “It’d be really exciting to see what ideas are generated by the public.”
For questions and more information about the opportunity, contact Rossi at [email protected] before 2 p.m. March 1.
The national park will conduct site visits by appointment on Feb. 12, 16 and 23, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
More Top Picks Abdominal Migraine In Children What Parents Miss
More information about the “request for expressions of interest” for the Bailly Homestead is at three sites: https://sam.gov/opp/85c69bbe66184c84b0372a47fe6a6151/view
https://www.nps.gov/indu/getinvolved/dobusinesswithus.htm
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/leasing/index/htm
This wouldn’t be the first time someone has run a business out of the Bailly Homestead. A restaurant was operating there before the National Park Service acquired the site, Rossi said.
Designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1962, the main Bailly Homestead building is awaiting a major rehabilitation project funded by Great American Outdoors Act, passed by Congress in 2020 to address national park areas that had suffered from years of deferred maintenance.
At Indiana Dunes, those were the Goodfellow Lodge, a former U.S. Steel camp, also in Porter; the House of Tomorrow, one of 1933 World’s Fair Century of Progress houses in Beverly Shores; and the Bailly Homestead.
At Bailly Homestead, Rossi said, the work will involve stabilizing the interior, rehabilitating the exterior, and bringing electric, gas, water and sewer service to the site, “to make it a viable option for some type of service.”
The site includes five buildings, including a log cabin.
“The historic value (of Bailly Homestead) is something we will definitely keep,” Rossi said. “Everything that is done has to be done with that in mind.
“It’s not like we’re giving the keys of the building (to someone) and just walking away.”
Rossi’s office also is accepting applications from people interested in operating certain businesses within the park.
Those include guided hikes, overnight group camping, photography lessons, fitness classes, guided kayaking or canoeing on the Little Calumet River, equipment rentals, or food trucks at some locations.
The park started letting food trucks set up at some sites last year.
“It was a resounding success,” Rossi said. “We heard from residents and the food truck operators. They were having fun out there.”
He thinks guided canoeing and kayaking, and guided hikes, will be popular because “we live in such a fantastic area.”
More about the CUA (commercial use opportunity) program is available at https://www.nps.gov/indu/getinvolved/commercial_use_authorization.htm
Tim Zorn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.