Destination: Illinois

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View State of Illinois in a larger map

That’s a lot of sites to cover in Illinois!

Above, I’ve placed three maps’ full of Save America’s Treasures sites, each loaded with genuine historical treasure. While there’s an undeniable concentration of sites in the urban northeast of Illinois, I’m pleased that this exploration will eventually take us into nearly every section of the state.

It took me fifty years to get to Illinois for a genuine vacation. Last year, my family and I arrived at Chicago during the annual “Taste of Chicago” event in Grant Park, billed as the world’s largest outdoor food festival. It was a great introduction to a city as renowned for its cuisine as it is for its history and architecture. Naturally, our taste of Chicago included Frank Lloyd Wright homes, the dinosaurs at the Field Museum, Seurat at the Art Insitute of Chicago, and Save America’s Treasures sites, along with the deep dish pizza.

But it’s my hope that our Save America’s Treasures tour will take us beyond Carl Sandburg’s “Hog Butcher for the World/Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat/Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler,/Stormy, Husky, Brawling, City of the Big Shoulders.” I’m eager to venture out into the suburbs and great rural expanses of Illinois.

Northern Illinois is the great urban area, where around 80% of the total population lives. Smaller cities—like Peoria, Springfield, Quincy, Decatur, Carbondale, and Marion—dot the central and southern portions of the state. As a part of the country’s interior plains, much of Illinois is flat prairie land. Once you’re out of the cities, the farmland extends for miles and miles.

People have found Illinois to be a welcoming and hospitable land for a long time. The record of human settlement extends way back in time. Archaeological findings at the Koster Site in western Illinois document human activity dating back 7,000 years. Cahokia, located in southern Illinois near St. Louis, Missouri, was the largest Native American city of the Mississippian culture. Not surprisingly, Cahokia has an important Save America’s Treasures site. We’ll be visiting there.

For more professional orientation to Illinois tourism, visit Enjoy Illinois, the official website of the Illinois Office of Tourism.  For more detailed information on Chicago vacation, try Explore Chicago or Chicago Traveler for advice on events, transportation, hotels, and restaurants.

Our Tour America’s History exploration of Illinois’ 32 Save America’s Treasures sites begins on Thursday.

Greetings from Chicago, Illinois!

Tour America's History Itinerary

Thursday’s destination:  Newberry Library, Ayer American Indian Collection

© 2012 Lee Price