Part Two

It's hard to imagine that The Grove was once very close to development and destruction, (1973) but the "Save the Grove" committee, also known as the "Twig and Frog Ladies," stepped in to rescue it after learning coincidentally about the heritage of the place. Thanks to their efforts and their subsequent organization, the Grove Heritage Foundation, they were successful in incorporating the land into the Glenview Park District, and in gaining grants from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. With funding and support secured, they restored the Redfield House, built an impressive new interpretive center and longhouse.

The foundation's current project involves restoring 110 acres of the Grove to its pre-settlement conditions so that species such as the red shouldered hawk, Cooper's hawk, Kirtland's watersnake and eastern prairie fringed orchid have a chance to survive.

When the Kennicott's moved to Illinois from New Orleans in 1836, they immediately exerted a strong influence on the area. Dr. John Kennicott was the area's first physician and impressed the Natives and trappers alike with acumen. His son, Robert demonstrated at an early age that he was Illinois' "foremost naturalist". He began his studies early and submitted many collections to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, where they remain today. He also influenced the trappers and hunters of the area with his collection fever encouraging many of them to send in unusual specimens to the Smithsonian. As a result of Robert's enthusiasm, many of the trappers who'd never have known better otherwise, submitted specimens until the time of their deaths.

Robert Kennicott founded the Chicago Academy of Science at the newly established Northwestern University, and made two separate expeditions to the Alaskan Territory and Canada. As a result we have Robert to thank for his influence in the purchase and annexation of Alaska to the U.S. When he died at age thirty on his last expedition, the Native American tribes who found his body passed it from tribe to tribe until it was delivered lovingly to the arms of his father in Glenview, Illinois, where he was buried. This, more than anything, says what a great and noble man he must have been.

There are so many reasons to love the Grove. It's natural beauty, educational programs, historical value are just a few. The work the Heritage Foundation does for ecology and environmental preservation has always impressed me. And personally, the Grove represents a string of memories going back to when I was the young mother tossing breadcrumbs with my toddlers, and continuing uninterrupted to the present with my meditative strolls. History increases in value as you grow older and you realize you've become a part of it.

Kris and Steve were still there when I visited, as they've been for the past twenty years. How many places will you go to twenty years from now and still bump into an old friend who seemed to be just waiting in that cabin in the woods for your visit?

Part One
On a windy, brisk, brilliant afternoon, a young mother and her toddlers ran toward the Kennicott House with a bag of breadcrumbs in hand. The girl's coat flew open as she tossed the crumbs into the wind, screeching when they blew back into her face. The guinea hens were unfazed by the commotion as they moved in closer to pick crumbs from the girl's shoes. In the interpretive center, a 5,000 square foot rough-hewn log structure built in 1989, two little fellas jumped up and down at the sight of the turtle pond. "Toor-to, toor-to" the younger exclaimed repeatedly as father restrained them from diving in with the amphibians. Another father and son duo in the next room quietly studied the extensive specimen cases filled with wonders that are quite common to the area but seldom seen outside such a center.

In the loft area, large beasts oversee the activities below. The grizzly and his friends have been captured in a permanent state of provoked ire by the look on their faces. On the main floor, water fowl and birds of all sorts are on display as are pelts from otters, beavers, and foxes. Gaze as long as you like into tanks filled with snakes or fish but don't miss the outdoor aviary where the Grove Owl lives.

Dr. John Kennicott, the original owner of the land called The Grove, started the area's first school and a replica of the building which he designed and built serves as an outdoor education classroom for local children. Most Glenview students will have the chance to spend time in the outdoors learning history, ecology, science and literature. They will take part in spinning wool, churning butter, combing flax, tending fires, coaxing syrup from a maple for starters. After experiencing in this small way what life was like when everything you ate, used or wore was the obvious result of something you had planted, raised or fashioned with your own hands, their appreciation for recycling and ecology increases ten-fold.

Special overnight programs allow visitors the opportunity to sleep in the woodsy comfort of the popular communal longhouse retreat, built in 1998 and featuring a weatherproof bark-covered exterior and bunk beds lined with fur and blankets. The antlers on the wall and firepit in the center round out the authenticity. The Redfield House, a stunning Tudor style home built in 1929 by renown architects of the Louis Sullivan school and recently furnished by the local A.S.I.D. chapter to its early elegance, is a very popular and affordable venue for special events and weddings. A circle on one of its stained glass windows captures the moon precisely at the vernal and autumnal equinoxes.

But I just like strolling the ancient woods where Robert Kennicott was first bitten with the botany bug and in appreciation, the "Frogs and Twigs" ladies "Saved the Grove" for the enrichment of us all.