CLINTON — The 55th Annual Apple ‘N Pork Festival is set for this weekend, September 23 and 24,  at the C.H. Moore Homestead & DeWitt County Museum, 219 E. Woodlawn, Clinton.

Hours for both days will be 9 a.m.-5 p.m., rain or shine.   The annual festival is a fundraising event, which was first held on the C.H. Moore Homestead & DeWitt County Museum grounds in 1968,  andrevolved around a kettle of soup simmered over an open wood fire and a stack of sandwiches.  It has evolved into a two-day, signature event celebrating harvest, heritage, history and hospitality.

The Apple ‘N Pork Festival was established by the DeWitt County Museum Association to provide the funds necessary to restore and furnish the palatial home of one of DeWitt County’s most prominent residents, Clifton H. Moore.  Also one of Clinton’s earliest residents, Moore was a law partner and personal friend of Abraham Lincoln, a land speculation partner of David Davis and one of Clinton’s leading benefactors. 

Once one of the finest private residences in the city, the Moore house fell into disrepair by the 1960s.  In 1967, as the once grand structure on the north edge of town approached its centenary, it was slated for demolition.  One of Moore’s heirs offered use of the property to the then newly-formed DeWitt County Museum Association on the condition that the association refurbish and maintain the historic Victorian mansion and open the doors to the public.

The first small and humble Apple ‘N Pork Festival was deemed a success.  The funds raised were used to carry out the huge task of refurbishing the old house room-by-room, during the next 22 years.

     • Read the complete story in the Friday, Sept. 22 print edition of the Clinton Journal or now in the Journal E-Edition for subscribers.