Recreation and Places of Interest

Illinois’s parks and forests offer varied opportunities for outdoor recreation. Many miles of abandoned railroad right-of-way, both urban and rural, have become improved hiking and biking trails. Sandy beaches along Lake Michigan provide attractions for swimming and other water-oriented sports. The state’s long, cold winters and abundant snow in its northern sections make winter sports such as ice skating and skiing popular.

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th United States president, is honored throughout Illinois with parks, memorials, and other sites. The state’s automobile license plates even proclaim Illinois as the Land of Lincoln. The Lincoln Heritage Trail, established in 1963, joins many of these sites. Stretching 1,598 km (993 mi), the trail traces the path followed by the Lincoln family from Kentucky, through Indiana, and into Illinois. Included among the Lincoln sites is the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, the only home America’s Civil War president ever owned. His residence for 17 years, the home contains many period pieces owned at one time by the Lincoln family.

Lincoln’s Springfield home is the sole Illinois site under the administration of the National Park Service. The service does, however, have an oversight interest in both the Illinois and Michigan National Heritage Corridor, which encompasses the former canal route between Chicago and LaSalle-Peru, and in the Chicago Portage National Historic Site, which marks (in suburban Lyons) the approximate place where early travelers portaged their light watercraft between the Great Lakes and Mississippi drainage basins.

National and State Forests

Shawnee National Forest, the only national forest in the state, covers 109,000 hectares (270,000 acres) of wooded hill country in southernmost Illinois. Within the forest are facilities for picnicking, camping, hiking, horseback riding, hunting, fishing, boating, and swimming. The five state forests all offer hiking opportunities, and four provide camping facilities.

State Parks

The State of Illinois administers 73 state parks and two state marinas. The largest park is Pere Marquette State Park, which covers 3,200 hectares (8,000 acres) of wooded country near the junction of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. Part of the palisades, or cliffs, that rise above the Mississippi River lie within Mississippi Palisades State Park. Starved Rock State Park is the site of Starved Rock, a high, rugged rock mass along the Illinois River. The summit of the huge rock is the site of the former Fort Saint Louis, which was built by the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, in 1682 and 1683. The state’s last remaining stand of virgin white pine is preserved farther north, in White Pines Forest State Park. Giant City State Park, in southern Illinois, has been so named because of the presence of huge blocks of eroded sandstone that resemble city buildings. Between them, deeply eroded fissures appear as avenues.

Monks Mound, the largest aboriginal earthen structure in the United States, is preserved in Cahokia Mounds State Historical Site in southwestern Illinois. Located at the site of the largest Native American city north of Mexico, Monks Mound covers 6 hectares (14 acres) and rises about 30 m (about 100 ft) in four terraces (see Mound Builders). The Cave-in-Rock State Park, on the Ohio River, is also the site of Native American mounds. Other picturesque parks are Ferne Clyffe State Park, Apple River Canyon State Park, Matthiessen State Park, and Illinois Beach State Park, which borders Lake Michigan.

In Fort de Chartres State Historic Site, on the Mississippi River in southwestern Illinois, is a restoration of the chief 18th-century fortress in the Illinois country. Fort Kaskaskia State Historic Site, in the southwestern part of the state, was once the site of Fort Kaskaskia, a historic fort that served the French during the middle part of the 18th century. All that remains of the original fort built on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River are the earthworks around the perimeter. Black Hawk State Historic Site, adjoining the city of Rock Island, includes a museum of Native American artifacts. The park is named for the chief who led the Sac and Fox in the Black Hawk War in 1832. In Lowden State Park, in northern Illinois, is the famous Black Hawk Monument, a concrete statue 15 m (50 ft) high of the Native American leader designed by the noted sculptor Lorado Taft.

A number of state sites preserve places associated with the life of Abraham Lincoln. One of the most picturesque monuments is in Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site, which lies northwest of Springfield. Within the park is a reconstruction of the pioneer village of New Salem, where Lincoln lived between 1831 and 1837. The village includes rustic log cabins, rail fences, a store, mills, and a reproduction of Rutledge Tavern, where Lincoln boarded. One original building remains on the site, the Onstot Cooper Shop, where Lincoln often studied in the evenings. In Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site, in eastern Illinois, is a reconstruction of the cabin of Lincoln’s father and stepmother.

There are also a number of state memorials in Illinois dedicated to Lincoln. The Lincoln Trail State Memorial marks the place where, in 1830, the Lincoln family crossed the Wabash River from Indiana into Illinois. Vandalia Statehouse, the former state capitol, where Lincoln served as a legislator, is also preserved as a state historic site. Lincoln is buried in the Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site in Springfield. Several courthouses where Lincoln practiced law have been preserved or reconstructed as state historic sites, including the original brick-and-timber Metamora Courthouse just northeast of Peoria, the restored Mount Pulaski Courthouse, and a replica of the Postville Courthouse at Lincoln.

Among other state memorials is Cahokia Courthouse State Historic Site, which preserves the oldest public building in the state. The building dates from 1737. The frame structure that once housed the first bank in the Illinois Territory stands within Shawneetown State Historic Site. The home of Ulysses S. Grant at Galena is now a state historic site as well. The Douglas Tomb State Historic Site in Chicago contains the tomb of the famous American statesman Stephen A. Douglas.

Libraries and Museums

Chicago, one of the leading cultural centers in North America, is the site of many of the state’s outstanding libraries and museums. Among the notable libraries in Chicago are the John Crerar Library and the Joseph Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago, Chicago Public Library, Newberry Library, and the library of the Chicago Historical Society. Museums in Chicago include the Art Institute of Chicago, Field Museum, John G. Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Museum of Science and Industry, DuSable Museum of African-American History, Oriental Institute Museum of the University of Chicago, and the Museum of Broadcast Communications.

There are 629 public library systems in Illinois. Each year the libraries circulate an average of 7.4 books for every resident. The Illinois State Library, which was established at Springfield in 1839, serves as an advisory and reference agency for other libraries throughout the state. Also in Springfield are the Illinois State Archives, a division of the office of Secretary of State, and the Illinois State Historical Library, established in 1889.

One of the principal museums outside Chicago is the Illinois State Museum in Springfield, founded in 1877. Krannert Art Museum, located on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, houses a collection of art representing the cultures of Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Railway museums attract rail fans to Monticello and Union.

Other Places to Visit

Many of the state’s outstanding places to visit are in the Chicago area. Among the interesting places to visit elsewhere in Illinois is the famous Brookfield Zoo, which lies west of Chicago. At Lisle, also near Chicago, is the Morton Arboretum, which includes an extensive collection of plant life that covers 600 hectares (1,500 acres).

Places to visit in the city of Springfield include the State Capitol, the Old State Capitol, the Illinois State Museum, and the home of poet Vachel Lindsay. At Galesburg is the Carl Sandburg Birthplace, the restored cottage where the famous poet was born. Other restorations include the Mormon town of Nauvoo and the home and shops of the inventor John Deere at Grant Detour.