Traveling exhibit at Isle a la Cache Museum in Romeoville shows how mobility shaped the U.S.

Explore how people’s movement helped shape the U.S. through a journey-themed exhibition at the Isle a la Cache Museum in Romeoville.

The Smithsonian Institution’s traveling “Journey Stories” exhibition runs through April 30.

The exhibit will “delve into Western expansion and Native American displacement, African American migration from the Deep South and important developments in transportation technology,” according to a news release form the Forest Preserve District of Will County.

“The exhibition highlights some of the major shifts in the history of the U.S., when large groups of people moved for various reasons,” Tina Riley facility supervisor at the Forest Preserve’s Isle a la Cache, said in a news release. “It helps us reflect on the experience of our ancestors, as well as our own mobility, something we often take for granted. Where you live is important;. How you got there can be an interesting story.”

Sara Russell, a program manager for the Forest Preserve District of Will County, said the exhibit contains seven posters from the Smithsonian with information, illustrations and quotes. These are displayed with journey-themed artifacts from the museums, such as bags and clothing, to “add a bit of texture.”

Visitors may interact with the exhibit as little or as much as they’d like, from skimming the posters to giving them an in-depth read, Russell said. “It’s just great to know more about who we are and where we came from. We’'ll appreciate our lives so much more and they’ll add to our own stories.

To that end, people may write or draw their favorite travel memories on a sticky note and then place it on the journey wall, Russell said, adding that Isle a La Cache is a good place to host the exhibit because “so many journey stories” are told at the museum about how people lived in this area and how they moved away.

“We talk about the French coming down here from Canada to trade with the Pottawatomie. Of course, at the forest preserve, we talk about animals moving and shifting around, too. So it just made perfect sense for us to talk about the larger journey story we all share as a nation and get to learn a little about the little details we’ve never known before.”

The children’s part of the exhibit focuses activities historically associated with travel, such as license plate hunts, Russel said. Children can pack bags, create their own journal or note card and play with “some really great” cars, planes and trains, Russell said.

These activities help children learn that people “are moving all the time,” Russell said. “We are a nation of immigrants and it’s so important to know where we came from.”

In addition to the exhibit, the community can enjoy the following complimentary programs: “Quest – A Joliet and Marquette Adventure for Adults” on Feb. 18, “Journaling Journeys” on Feb. 25, “Postcard Palooza” on March 19 and “Bike and Brake for History” on April 29.

The Forest Preserve District has built programs over other large exhibits, too, including “The “Inspired by Endangered Species” quilt exhibition” in 2021 and “Frida Kahlo’s Garden” in 2019.

Cindy Cain, spokesperson for the Forest Preserve District of Will County, said that “exhibitions are a nice way to get people inside the visitor facilities and to get to know more of what we offer inside, as well.”

“So whether it’s art, nature or history, we try to weave those all together in the programs we offer, to give people a variety of things to see and enjoy throughout the year,” Cain said,

Isle a la Cache is at 501 E. Romeo Road (135th Street), Romeoville, and hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays noon to 4 p.m. Sundays and closed Mondays.

The exhibition is organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and brought to the museum through funding provided by The Nature Foundation of Will County.

For information, visit ReconnectWithNature.org.

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Mike Pacholski, of Woodridge, stops in the Isle a la Cache Museum on his free day to check out the new “Journey Stories” exhibition in Romeoville. (Gary Middendorf – gmiddendorf@shawmedia/Gary Middendorf)