Lincoln Memorial Garden
Six miles of trails take you through 100 acres of native woodland on Lake Springfield’s northwest shore at Lincoln Memorial Garden, designed in 1936 by the great American landscape architect Jens Jensen and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
Each trail is dotted with benches etched with Lincoln quotes, and all plants derive from the three states in which Lincoln lived — Illinois, Kentucky and Indiana. The grove of sugar maples is always popular with visitors, especially when warm weather approaches. Nearby are the garden’s Walnut Grove and Ostermeier Prairie Center, a former farm where once-cultivated fields were restored to native grasses and forbs. The garden is open daily, sunrise to sunset.
Special weekend events are held throughout the year, among them in 2010, Art in the Garden, June 26; the Indian Summer Festival, Oct. 9 and 10; and the Holiday Market, Nov. 13 and 14.
The park’s nature center and Split Rail Gift Shop, which offers crafts, books and posters, are open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 1-4 p.m. Sunday.
Lincoln Memorial Garden, 2301 E. Lake Drive, 217-529-1111. www.lmgnc.org. Take I-55 south to the Chatham/East Lake Drive interchange (exit 88), then head east (left) for two miles on East Lake Drive.
Lincoln Park
Lincoln Park on the north side of Springfield is an 88-acre site added to the park district in 1905. This is one of the historic parks developed as termini of the urban trolley line in use at the time. There is something for kids, mom and dad, even grandpa here, from an 18-hole disc-golf course to tennis courts and a horseshoe park. Lincoln Park contains the greatest variety of sports-oriented facilities of any park in the district. The roadway network, trails and open space are used for walking, running and bicycling. The northern half of the park contains a soccer field, 6 ball diamonds with one lighted, 3 tennis courts, 3 shuffleboard courts and 6 horseshoe courts. Also in this area, the Nelson Recreation Center contains an outdoor swimming pool and 2 indoor ice rinks. South of the building is a small bandstand, a picnic area with shelters and a large playground.
The historic lagoon just off the south entrance of Fifth Street was extensively renovated. A new water circulation system keeps contents fresh and filtered, pumping it from the low pool to the cascading water sluice, which returns it fresh and re-oxygenated to the high pool.
Lincoln Park, Fifth Street and Sangamon Avenue, 217-544-1751. www.springfieldparks.org. Take Sixth Street north from downtown or Fifth Street south from the Illinois State Fairgrounds. From Oak Ridge, take Monument to North Grand (left), and North Grand to Sixth Street (left). For information on Nelson Center events, call 217-753-2800.
Washington Park
Designed by Ossian Simonds, noted for his naturalistic style of landscape design, Washington Park is on the National Register of Historic Places. Springfield’s largest park is home of the Thomas Rees Memorial Carillon, the world’s sixth-largest carillon. A weeklong International Carillon Festival, June 6 - 12, brings in artists from around the world and audiences from around the country. Other events include an Art Spectacular, Sept. 18 and 19 and the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular, Oct. 15 and 16.
Carillon concerts are held at noon and 3 p.m. on Sundays in April and May; at 3 p.m. on Sundays and 7 p.m. on Wednesdays June through August; and at noon and 3 p.m. on Sundays September through December. Tours of the carillon are offered noon-dusk Wednesday through Sunday. Admission is $2.50 for adults and $2 for children. www.rarillon-res.org The Washington Park Botanical Garden features a 9,000-square-foot greenhouse, conservatory and gallery. A variety of gardens surrounds the conservatory, including a 5,000-plant rose garden, the largest of its kind in central Illinois; a scent-and-texture garden for the visually impaired; an iris garden; a perennial border; the Betty Mood Smith Rockery; and Roman-cultural and outdoor cactus gardens. It hosts a Spring Floral Display, March 27 – April 11, and a Winter Holiday Display in December. The botanical garden is open noon-4 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. See www.springfieldparks.org/garden.
Washington Park is also home to ponds, picnic shelters, playgrounds, tennis courts, nature trails and bike and jogging paths. The 350-foot boardwalk overlooking the lower lagoon is a popular gathering place for joggers, walkers and feeders of the park’s many ducks. Playmates of all ages will enjoy the extensively modernized playground, next to the tennis courts.
Washington Park, South Grand Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard, 217-544-1751. www.springfieldparks.org. Enter by South Grand Avenue on the south, Chatham Road on the west, Fayette Avenue on the north, or Orendorff Parkway on the east.
