Lee County: Discover Nature and History

When searching for hotels in Lee County, you can first consider whether nature trails, prairie, or regional history will shape your stay. The destinations bring together marked hiking routes and bison watching with museums, historic buildings, and a reconstructed mill. This gives you different options for your trip.

Nature, Prairie, and Trails

Franklin Creek State Natural Area has four and a half miles of marked, maintained hiking trails. The area includes a 198-acre Illinois Nature Preserve, designated in 1970. The trail length and the size of the designated preserve offer two concrete insights into the character of the natural area.

The trails also differ in their themes. The paved, accessible Mill Springs Trail leads to Mill Spring. The scenic Pioneer Pass Trail includes stream crossings. The Seasons of Change Trail focuses on how habitats change throughout the year; the family-friendly Storybook Trail features illustrated stories on signs. The trail themes thus range from a spring and stream crossings to nature interpretation and stories.

Nachusa Grasslands comprises more than 4,000 acres of restored and preserved prairie. It has five trails and trail access points, where visitors can watch bison. Those looking to focus on prairie and wildlife viewing will find a different nature experience here than on trails centered on a spring, stream crossings, or changing habitats.

History and Technology

Franklin Creek State Natural Area is also home to the Franklin Creek Grist Mill and Interpretive Center: a reconstructed, four-story, wood-frame grist mill dating to 1847. Visitors can watch a waterwheel drive the four-ton millstone through belts and gears to grind corn as it was done in the 19th century. This makes the mechanics of milling a tangible part of the mill's history.

Chaplin Creek Historic Village preserves historic buildings that illustrate everyday life from the 19th to the early 20th century. Tours are available by appointment. The Amboy Depot Museum is housed in a former Illinois Central Railroad depot built in 1876 and listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It includes a freight depot building with additional artifacts, a fully restored one-room country schoolhouse, a retired steam locomotive, and a caboose.

The restored house where the Reagan family lived from 1920 to 1923 is preserved at the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home and Visitors Center. Tours include a four-room Presidential Timeline exhibit. Another childhood site is the Northwest Territory Historic Center, located in Ronald Reagan's former South Central School and featuring an interactive exhibit about Indigenous people and the Black Hawk War.

The John Deere Historic Site is in Grand Detour, where the company founded by John Deere got its start. The original John Deere home from 1836 stands there, and the site also includes an operating blacksmith shop. The Old Settlers Log Cabin stands on the original site of Fort Dixon and was built in 1894 as a lasting tribute to the region's early settlers. On its grounds stands a statue of 23-year-old Abraham Lincoln, who served as a volunteer soldier in the Black Hawk War in 1832.

Trails and Visit Planning

The Lincoln Highway Interpretive Center and Headquarters is open through the end of October on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Check opening hours before your visit. The Lincoln Highway Scenic Byway reaches Dixon on Illinois 38, where it meets the Blackhawk Trail. In Dixon, the riverfront trail connects to Heritage Crossing Riverfront Plaza, which runs along the Rock River.

Visiting requirements vary for planning purposes: tours at Chaplin Creek Historic Village are by appointment, while the Lincoln Highway Interpretive Center has set weekend hours through the end of October. This lets you check in advance whether a visit requires an appointment or is subject to specific opening hours.

Discover More Destinations

Discover more destinations: Dixon, Franklin Grove, St. Clair, Sangamon County, Mercer County, Coles, Iroquois County, Franklin County.

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