El Rancho Camino Real
Rancho Camino Real, 13520 Marengo Rd, Huntley, IL 60142
Located 1 rural mile from Harmony Inn, 13904 Harmony Road, Huntley IL, this wedding venue is so close you could almost walk there., but we don't recommend it.
This venue is located at the Historic Landmark Whittemore Homestead Farm. The Whittemore Family was one of the first settlers in Huntley. The location also has some horses and farm animals on site. The facilities are beautiful with indoor and outdoor areas for guests to enjoy. The Ranch is very talented at decorating for events. This is a large and open location with professional landscaping and flowers everywhere. There is ample parking.
It may be interesting to know that the previous owner of this farm operated a landscaping paver business and is a first cousin of the owner of Harmony Inn.
The Huntley Library Archives provide this information about the Homestead.
"Although the town is named in honor of Thomas Stillwell Huntley, he was not the first to settle in this area.
The Whittemore and Cummings families were generally regarded as among the first settlers to make a mark on the area."
"Prescott Whittemore and his wife, Lucy Geer Whittemore, came to this area in 1838 from New Hampshire. They loaded all their personal belongings and their 10 children onto two wagons and spent nearly seven weeks making the journey over land to Illinois."
"For years the family lived in a makeshift shelter while they built their new home, which was completed in 1841. That home still stands today on Marengo Road, about a mile and a quarter west of town. It was plaqued by the McHenry County Historical Society in 1983 as a historic county landmark."
"Prescott Whittemore’s name was associated with many firsts in Huntley."
"The Whittemore’s small, original shelter was the site of the first religious services held in the area in 1839. The services were conducted by a Baptist minister."
"The Whittemore’s home also served as the first hotel, or inn, in the area, for the convenience of travelers going to the west."
"Prescott Whittemore was on the first slate of officers for the new Grafton Township in 1850. He was elected Overseer of the Poor in that first township election. It was Whittemore who had named the township for his home township of Grafton, New Hampshire."
"The Whittemore’s son, Washington Whittemore (1823-1897), came to the northern Illinois area with his parents when he was a teenager."
"During his life he worked splitting rails for settlers and helped with surveying for the railroad as it was being constructed through Huntley just before 1851."
"Washington Whittemore married Susan Perry, a relative of Commodore (Oliver Hazard) Perry (the Lake Erie naval hero of the War of 1812). Washington and Susan Whittemore had four children.
Washington Whittemore was a local school trustee for 17 years and was an ardent abolitionist who assisted in the Underground Railway."
"Washington’s son Willis Whittemore built the house on Main Street at the southwestern corner at Lincoln Street. Willis was Huntley’s police magistrate from 1904 to 1937."
