ARCOLA, Ill. — Rockome Gardens offers acres of rock and floral gardens along with shops, an Amish museum and an amazing restaurant. Situated in the heart of Illinois’ largest Old Amish community, the garden that brings visitors flocking to the Midwest each year began as a farmstead.

The Old Amish settlement was established in 1865 by a handful of families, and has grown to more than 4,500 members. With over 1,000 homesteads surrounding the Rockome Gardens area horse-drawn, black Amish buggies are a common sight.

The founders of Rockome Gardens, Arthur and Elizabeth Martin, had a dream of creating the largest flower garden in Douglas County. They purchased a 208-acre farm located five miles west of Arcola. At the beginning, they decided to devote seven acres of the farm to flower gardens, rock formations and their summer cottage.

Work toward development of the gardens has been going on since 1937. Arthur was the owner of Progress Industries in nearby Arthur, Ill., and work was slow due to the war and the Depression. Instead of letting his workers become unemployed, the story goes that Arthur sent them out to construct rock formations and fences on his property.

The Martins donated the property to the Mennonite Board, which used it as a retirement community until 1959 when it was sold to Alvin and Irene Yoder.

It was the Yoders who realized the potential of the land and opened the gardens to the public. The current owners, Steve and Bev Maher, have owned the grounds for more than a year.

They were dismayed when seeing how rundown the garden had become and they decided to do something about it. They purchased the property and formed Rockome Gardens Preservation, Inc. On their website the Mahers shared they felt it was God’s will to have a change in their life, and they are intent upon bringing warmth and beauty back to Rockome.

Steve explained after Alvin purchased the property, he built the other structures currently on-site. Several investors had the property after the Yoders and their sons. Over the years the gardens suffered.

Owners of a horse farm near St. Louis, Mo., the Mahers are familiar with farm life and the pull of old iron. The grounds are filled with an amazing array of old, mostly horse-pulled, machinery and the Amish museum, which offers details about that religion and lifestyle.

Both Steve and Bev enjoy plants, which is a good thing because the gardens are filled with 36,000 florals. Rockome Gardens is unique, Steve said, because, “Where can you go to see rock structures of native rocks off the original farm that were built during the Depression?”

Rockome is more like a living farm than an entertainment park. “This is not a Six Flags,” he said, “but I don’t want it to be. I want to show the farming history of our forefathers. Kids should know about it. It is an education.”

The gardens have many buildings, some open and some not. There is a blacksmith shop, a trading post, the Amish museum and more. This is a mostly outside destination, and the old machinery and barns are like a warm balm to those seeking country pursuits.

Besides the barn that formerly held antiques, another lovely barn on the property is serving a new purpose, of late: “We have had a few weddings here,” Bev said.

She recounted arriving to the first wedding and being amazed by the beauty when the bride came out of the barn door and twirled in the entryway in front of white lights and a full moon. “It is a mental image that will remain,” she said, adding it brought tears to her eyes.

Also new to the property is a log cabin of Moses Yoder, the first Amish settler in the state of Illinois’s workshop. Built during the early 1860s, besides Yoder’s workshop, his homestead and another Amish homestead was donated to the Garden. They are currently waiting to raise the funds to move these structures to Rockome.

Rockome has a variety of events and is open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday, June to October. Check out the website at www.rockome.com or call 217-268-4106 for more information.