Others Near DeKalb,IL
Prairie Oaks - Kingston Donald Smith: The vegetation here is very pretty
The park looks a lot smaller from the road than it turns out to be.
Very basic amenities . There are signs and there is a path. And if you walk half a mile in theres a little picnic area.
No bathrooms, no water. Very peaceful and I rarely see people here when I drive by. Neat little spot to stop in for a short hike.
Russell Woods Forest Preserve - Genoa Carla Taylor: We had a meeting with brunch in one of the shelters, took an hour long excellent guided hike with Ms. Peggy, saw and heard sand hill cranes stalking the wetlands and saw a real log cabin, moved from elsewhere on the Kishwaukee River. We also visited the nature center (great for kids) with stuffed and live native animals, and a tortoise named TJ.
Massey Park - Clinton Christina Babcock: Good park. A little small but some nice equipment. Kind of close to the road and the equipment days that its for 5 to 12 yr olds. It was not busy while we were there.
Woodward Park - Chloe Brink: A great place for children to run and play nieces and nephews love it
C.H. Moore Homestead DeWitt County Museum - Clinton Michelle Foy: If you are ever near or passing Clinton, IL and have a little time, it’s a fun little museum to visit. It’s a long titled place; C.H. Moore Homestead & Dewitt County Museum. It’s attorney C. Moore’s Victorian home along side his beautiful one of a kind personal libraries!
It’s a stunning mansion to go through. The tour was very educational and done by a very nice woman that knows it very well.
It is said that Attorney Moore was a very good friend of Abraham Lincoln. There are many artifacts intact that you can see on the 3 floors of this beautiful home. It also includes the 1860 carriage barn and working blacksmith shop exhibit. In 1979 it was added to the Historic Places registry!
Weldon Springs State Park - Clinton Michelle Foy: Weldon Springs State Park is about a 2 hour drive from Chicago Western suburbs. It’s located in a little town of Clinton in DeWitt County. It’s a huge park offering 550 acres with varied trails, river fir swimming, camping, fishing, picnic areas, two amphitheaters and a nice veteran tribute area.
For a late May weekend, there was hardly anyone there. We felt we had the whole place to ourselves. The trail was clean and moderately easy.
There was a meadow of wildflowers and they even have a “box” trail where they have many hummingbird nests. Birds can be spotted all over but hard to catch in snapshots!
Veterans Point is very nicely done alongside the water with much patriotism which is always good to see. The walk along the water was very nice and we also discovered a dam, people hosting and kayaking.
This makes for a nice day out here!
Wimple Park - Danielle Cozzola: Not the best park, but not the worst park. There is a small fishing dock, some trails (with lots of dead ends), a pond, lots of benches, a gravel parking lot, some restrooms, and a covered picnic area.
There is potential to be great here, but Id say this is a pretty average park. Nice place to get out of the car and stretch your legs, but not much to explore here. A paved or gravel trail around the lake would be really nice!
Hippie Memorial - Arcola Jennifer Denslow: This is an odd but engaging site. The piece is an interesting work of abstract art, and if youre passing by or looking for a random day trip, its worth a stop. The town has several diverting features in addition to the memorial, including some beautiful murals and public art in the shape of brooms throughout the town.
Douglas County Museum - Tuscola Arriaga Daniel “CHIEF”: They have a lot of local history , photos, huge flintlock gun collection , local veterans history, 4 different antique Harley Davidsons , couple old cars and other machines. They are working on new old style city store fronts which should be nice once done. We will be back. Nice people too , even let us stay awhile after normal closing time since we were still looking and reading. If you like this sort of thing give yourself a couple hours to see and read.
