Abraham Lincoln Memorial Gardens

Lincoln Memorial Garden was founded in the early 1930s through the combined vision and efforts of civic leader Harriet Knudson and renowned landscape architect Jens Jensen. All the plants found at the Garden are native to the three states Lincoln lived in - Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. From the original 63 acres of woodland and prairie garden, today there is over 100 acres, with five miles of hiking trails, a visitors’ center and a prairie center complete with a century-old farmstead whose pasture and cropland have been restored as examples of a central Illinois prairie in pioneer days. Open sunrise to sunset.  scouts planted acorns which today are mature oaks.

Lincoln Memorial Garden (LMG) represents the landscape Abraham Lincoln would have known growing up and living in the Midwest, containing plants native to the three states he lived in - Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. Designed by internationally-known landscape architect Jens Jensen, this 100-acre site features six miles of trails, footbridges, a pond, eight stone council rings, and dozens of wooden benches inscribed with Lincoln quotes. 

The Garden represents the landscape Abraham Lincoln would have known growing up and living in the Midwest, containing plants native to the three states he lived in - Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. Designed by internationally-known landscape architect Jens Jensen, this 100-acre site features six miles of trails, footbridges, a pond, eight stone council rings, and dozens of wooden benches inscribed with Lincoln quotes. The woodland and prairie garden beckons to thousands of visitors year round - families, birdwatchers, photographers, artists, nature enthusiasts, and school children - to learn about nature and enjoy the wildflowers, trees and wildlife.    

The estate was planned, in 1936, by the landscape architect Jens Jensen. He used native plants in a naturalistic style, to re-create the character of Illinois as Abraham Lincoln knew it in his youth. There are nature trails, wildflowers and meadows
The Abraham Lincoln Memorial Garden maintains approximately five miles (8 km) of footpaths. Plantings within the Jensen Unit include the white oak (the Illinois state tree), the sugar maple, the dogwood, and the redbud. Plantings within the Ostermeier Prairie Center center on prairie grasses such as big bluestem, with some fire-resistant tree specimens such as bur oak.^[2]
In early spring, LMG operates one of the southernmost maple syrup festivals in Illinois. The LMG maples yield only about 10–15 gallons of dark syrup in a good year.
In October, an Indian Summer Festival celebrates the turning of the leaves.
The garden maintains a nature center and gift store

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  Lincoln Memorial Garden’s oldest annual event will be held on Columbus Day weekend, October 9-10, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. There will be traditional fall activities. But, thanks to generous donors, the weekend will include the Garden’s first birdhouse building contest. And, thanks to members of the Springfield Prairie Art Alliance, the sidewalk leading to the Garden’s Nature Center will be transformed into a two-day, mini-fairway featuring local arts.

Address - Lincoln Memorial Garden, 2301 E Lake Drive, Springfield, Illinois, USA, IL 62707
Opening times - All year, except January and holidays, Tuesday to Sunday, Open dawn to dusk
Admission - Entrance free