Garfield Park Conservatory

The best way to escape multiple consecutive polar vortexes is by visiting the Garfield Park Conservatory.  It's like stepping off an airplane in the Amazon.  This is one of Chicago's great hidden (and free) wonders.

From www.garfieldconservatory.org:

"The Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago, Illinois is one of the largest and most stunning conservatories in the nation.  Often referred to as “landscape art under glass”, the Garfield Park Conservatory occupies approximately 4.5 acres inside and out, and includes cold frames and propagating where thousands of plants are grown each year for displays in city parks and spaces.  Garfield Park Conservatory is located in Garfield Park – a 184-acre site located on Chicago’s redeveloping Westside designed as a pleasure ground by William LeBaron Jenney – and is the oldest of the three great Westside parks (Humboldt, Garfield, and Douglas)."

Banana palm

Papayas

Aimee spying on ferns.

Desert echinoderms

The beautiful desert room.

"Who loves a garden, loves a green-house too.

Unconscious of a less propitious clime

There blooms exotic beauty, warm and snug,

While the winds whistle and the snows descend."

-William Cowper

The Task,

1785

Schiller Park Historical Society

Saturday, I attended a centennial celebration thrown by the Schiller Park Historical Society, for Schiller Park.  I was invited by a colleague of mine, Dan Melone, who works as an archaeologist in Lake County but who has been a full member of the Schiller Park Historical Society for nearly a decade.  He and fellow colleague Buzz Spreeman were exhibiting local Native American artifacts, including arrowheads and other stone points (he knows the technical terms, me, not so much).  Buzz Spreeman, a descendant of Chief Alexander Robinson, aka Che Che Pin Qua (a key figure in the formation of the city of Chicago), was on hand to speak to visitors about local Native American history.  He also demonstrated the art of flint knapping.  It was great seeing so many great historical items and meeting a lot of great people.

This post may not come across as "naturey", but I think of it this way - prior to European settlement, the Chicago area was settled by natives for thousands of years.  They lived primitive lifestyles and hardly ever squandered.  They respected the land, the animals, the seasonal cycles.  Some might be inclined to believe that they left a negligible ecological footprint, but I view them as having been part of the ecology of the area.  Many were hunters & gatherers and those that did grow their own food did it to such a small extent that it seldom put a dent in the appearance or functionality of the landscape.  They worked with nature, not against it.  Seeing the benefits natural fire provided to the land, they replicated the effects of fire by strategically burning land in order to increase yield and accessibility to their crops.  They hunted out of necessity and used every part of the animal.  In many ways, they were the poster children for "green" living, and yet many people still think of Native Americans as having been savages.

All of what I've learned from Dan and Buzz over the last year or two has reminded me about the idea that we are all inherently part of nature, though many consider themselves separate from nature.  Research shows that excluding one's self from nature can lead one to view nature as something we can fear, something we can exploit, and something we can destroy.  All humans are still and always will be very much tied to nature in every way imaginable, even if some never leave the cities.  Living a life deprived of exposure to natural places will create people who have no clue how the world works outside the big box - where our food, water, and natural resources come from.  When these things are taken for granted, it leads to consumption on a disastrous scale and a materialistic culture.  Just ask Madonna.  The natives had the right mindset - learn to appreciate the little things, be resourceful, prudent, and most of all, respectful.

Anyway.  I thought I'd share a few photos of Saturday's fun event.  The historical society is located in the lower level (fancy term for basement) of the local library, and they have an assortment of relics related to Schiller Park, including a neat mid-century typewriter.

Buzz, a member of the Menominee Nation, showing off his flint knapping skills for the visitors.  If you ask me, this was the coolest part of the whole day.  

Dan with his collection of local Native American points and pottery fragments.

This one is especially beautiful.

Group shot (Buzz, Dan, author/historian/parapsychologist/colleague Ursula Bielski, and me) - I'm in good company.

The Grove & Robert Kennicott

As a young child, my grandparents acknowledged my love for animals and the outdoors.  They knew there were few things I loved more than going to one of the nature centers near their home.  Plus, it was good for them because it was totally free.  We used to go to River Trail Nature Center in Northbrook and look at all the animals in the big cages outside.  Indoors, there was a working beehive with an observation window, where we were encouraged to find the queen.  My favorite part, though, were all the reptiles, amphibians, and fish on display.  They had a blue racer that seemed to live forever, although when you're five or six, time doesn't move as fast as it seems to as an adult.

 There was also the Grove in Glenview.  The Grove is a historic site that began as the homestead for John A. Kennicott, a prominent physician and horticulturist from New Orleans.  In 1836, he moved with his family to what is now Glenview.  He built a large home and studied, among other things, plants.  His son, Robert, grew up loving nature.  Surrounded by endless rural landscapes, his entire world consisted of woods, prairies, and ponds.  Not far to the west, the Des Plaines River flowed southward.  His fascination with living things, in particular, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, led him to eventually help found the Chicago Academy of Sciences in 1857 at the age of about 22.  Between 1859 and 1862, he spent his time exploring Northwestern Canada, collecting specimens in order to bring back and catalogue.  Upon his return, he joined the Megatherium Club, a group of fellow naturalists based in Washington D.C. that also included, among others, Spencer Fullerton Baird, William Stimpson, and Edward Drinker Cope (who all have reptiles or amphibians named after them).  The club members worked hard during the day, looking over notes and classifying species.  At night, they turned to "revelry", and let go of all professional inhibition.  They drank, partied, and held sack races in the Great Hall of the Smithsonian Institution, that is, until they were expelled from the premises for flirting with the daughter of the Smithsonian's secretary.

Kennicott, Henry Ulke, William Stimpson, and Henry Bryant.

In May of 1866, Robert Kennicott died at age 31 from what is believed to have been congestive heart failure, following an expedition to Canada and Alaska, an expedition that helped persuade the United States to purchase Alaska.  In his short time, Robert Kennicott published a huge volume of information, explored places no other explorer had seen before, and left a legacy that continues to this day.  In addition to the Grove, which has become a National Historic Landmark, the Chicago Academy of Sciences flourished, and today, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum exists as the top interactive nature museum geared towards kids and not as much for research (the Field Museum of Natural History still steals much of the limelight).  I often pause and think about how amazing it is that he managed to do everything he did into a mere 31 years - less time than I've been alive.  Granted, there was much more to discover back then.  One of my favorite and certainly my most coveted local species of snake, the Kirtland's snake (Clonophis kirtlandii), was discovered and described by Kennicott.  This species continues to elude me to this day.

The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

Over the past few years, I've been particularly fascinated by the life and times of Robert Kennicott.  Had my grandparents not taken me to the Grove as a child, I'm not so sure I'd have as strong a connection to the site.  In 2011, I was married there, steps from the home his father John built in 1856.  And having been involved with programs run by the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, it's clear that the connection between myself and the legacy of Robert Kennicott has strengthened.  Of course, much more gratitude is owed to my grandparents, who deserve a blog post of greater length and recognition.  That will come.  For now, I'll leave you with some photos from my morning trip to the Grove, including some from the interpretive center, one of my favorite places on Earth.

The Grove's interpretive center contains a good assortment of reptiles, amphibians, and fish.  Most are local species, but some, such as the sheltopusik and the massive alligator snapping turtle, are not.  I especially like viewing their open turtle pool.

Red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)

Common map turtle (Graptemys geographica)

A ginormous female redbelly turtle (Pseudemys rubriventris)