You’ve been doing a lot of walking,
mostly from one historic site to the
next. It’s not really the legwork that
wears you out — you’ve simply
taken in all the details a mind can
absorb. Tourism can be exhausting.
If you need a change of pace, why not check out one of Springfield’s more natural settings? The city offers great parks, nature spots, gardens and prairie wilderness. All Springfield parks are open dawn to dusk. Take time to relax, have a picnic and freshen up for the next historic site on your agenda.
Adams Wildlife Sanctuary
This is the perfect place for a quick nature walk without driving out of town. Just off one of Springfield’s busiest streets, Clear Lake Avenue, the sanctuary is a hidden jewel that’s accessible in minutes. Once a mid- 19th-century farm, it’s now a wooded haven for birds and birdwatchers and is owned by the Illinois Audubon Society. One trail takes 15 minutes to complete; a longer trail takes 45 minutes. All told, the sanctuary features about one mile of trails. The visitor center offers information about the trees, plants and birds commonly encountered.
Visitors can also tour the newlyrestored
1850s Margery Adams
farmhouse. Its award-winning, ecofriendly
design features the use of
geothermal heat.
Adams Wildlife Sanctuary, 2315
E. Clear Lake Ave., 217-544-5781.
www.illinoisaudubon.org. Go east of
downtown on Madison Avenue,
which turns into Clear Lake.
Carpenter Park Nature Preserve
This 424-acre park and 341-acre
nature preserve hugs the Sangamon
River just north of town along Peoria
Road/Business I-55, south of the Rail
Golf Course. The park includes 10
trails, a large shelter with a fireplace,
and several picnic tables. It’s a short
jaunt from the Illinois State Fairgrounds
and is adjacent to Gurgens
and Riverside parks.
Heading west from Ohio, William
Carpenter came upon what is now
the park with his family in the fall of
1820. Native Americans from the
Kickapoo and Tamaroa tribes were
residents at the time. The Native
Americans left the area, but the land
remained fairly undeveloped through
the years — you won’t find the
park’s natural undulations and rock
formations anywhere else.
The trails are a perfect place for
a hike past ponds, marshes, woodlands
and prairie. Look for hundreds
of bird, plant and animal species,
some unique to the area. Across the
river, near the softball diamonds at
Riverside Park, pet owners can let
their pooches explore and exercise at
one of the area’s only dog runs.
Carpenter Park Nature Preserve,
IL 124 and Loop I-55, 217-544-
1751. www.springfieldparks.org.
Drive north from Springfield on Peoria
Road/Business I-55.
Centennial Park
Calling all skateboarders! Springfield’s hippest park is a must-see for you! In addition to its wide-open spaces and opportunity for a great picnic away from Springfield, Centennial Park is home to a skateboarders’ run, dedicated in 2003. The smooth surface covers 10,000-square feet and is packed with the curves, dips and banks that will make your day. And for those not into skating, there are bocce ball courts and picnic areas.
Centennial Park, Bunker Hill Road and Lenhart Road, 217-544-1751. www.springfieldparks.org. Take MacArthur onto Wabash and continue west past White Oaks Mall, then start looking for Bunker Hill on your right. Look for the Centennial Park sign on that corner, then take a right onto Bunker Hill and keep going until you see the next sign and the parking lot.