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| Amenities |
| Drinking Water |
| Picnic Shelters |
| Picnic Tables |
| Public Parking |
| Toilets |
| Trails |
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Grant Woods |
Wide-open prairies, quiet woodlands and marshes teeming with wildlife await you at this popular Preserve. Recent land purchases have brought Grant Woods to its current status as one of the largest forest preserves in Lake County.
There are six miles of trail at Grant Woods, most of which have a crushed-gravel surface. In winter, snowmobilers have access to 4.5 miles of the trail system, which tie into adjacent snowmobile trails on private land. One mile of grass trail in the far northeastern section of the preserve can be accessed via a lot on Cedar Lake Road. The trail extends to Fairfield Road, across from Lake Villa Township's Caboose Park. |
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| Location |
| Grant Woods Forest Preserve is located in northwest Lake County near Lake Villa and Fox Lake. |
| There are two entrances and parking areas at Grant Woods. The south entrance and parking area are located on Monaville Road between Route 59 and Fairfield Road. The north entrance and parking area are located on Grand Avenue (Route 132) between Route 59 and Fairfield Road. A third lot on Cedar Lake Road, south of Grand Avenue, provides access to a grass path. |
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| History |
After the Potawatomi left this area in the 1830s, most of it was grazed and farmed. Early landowners include Elijah Stanford, Charles Hawkins, and Otto Lehmann. Stanford and Hawkins, both born in New York in 1832. Stanford came to Fox Lake with his parents at the age of 12, left for the California Gold Rush with his wife at the age of 18, moved to Nevada when 32 and returned here to farm this land at age 38.
Hawkins moved here as a 13-year-old and stayed until he was 29, when the Civil War broke out. He joined the infantry and fought in several battles, receiving a bullet wound in his hand. After the war, he returned to his farm here and became a school director.
Otto Lehmann, son of E.J. Lehmann (founder of Chicago’s Fair Department Store and responsible for bringing the railroad to Lake Villa), also owned property in what is now Grant Woods. He and his family helped the area’s economy, employing local residents as horse trainers, carpenters, grounds keepers and more on their large estates, including the historic Lehmann Mansion, which is located adjacent to Sun Lake Forest Preserve near
Lake Villa. |
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| The Natural Scene |
There is a lot of variety in this gently rolling landscape of woodlands, prairie and marsh. One area, designated as a protected Illinois Nature Preserve, was never farmed and thus is rich in rare native plants. It even supports a tamarack bog, a rarity in this region. Bluebirds fill the nest boxes dotting the property, springtime ponds fill to the brim with noisy frogs, summer prairie grasses tower over visitors, and year-round glimpses of deer, hawks and other wildlife abound.
Lake County’s only known stand of wild Kentucky coffee trees grows here. Since their large shiny seeds were used in Native American games and trade, the trees’ presence indicates the possibility that indigenous people frequented this site and perhaps even had a village here. |
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