Illinois in the Civil War

The Museum of the Grand Prairie kicks-off the 2012 Spring Lecture Series on Sunday, April 15 at 2:00 p.m. In “Illinois and the Civil War,” Dan Monroe, Professor of History at Millikin University, offers his insights on contributions of Illinois soldiers and civilians alike to the Civil War effort. The lecture series is part of the five year commemoration of the 150^th anniversary of the Civil War.

Monroe is currently writing a book on daily life before the Civil War. In addition, Monroe is the author of The Republican Vision of John Tyler (2003), At Home with Illinois Governors: A Social History of the Illinois Executive Mansion (2002), and Shapers of the Great Debate on the Civil War: A Biographical Dictionary (2005) with Bruce Tap.

This lecture is free and open to the public. More information on this program or the museum is available at (217) 586-2612 or www.museumofthegrandprairie.org. The Museum of the Grand Prairie is a facility of the Champaign County Forest Preserve District and is located on Route 47, 1/2 mile north of I-74 at Mahomet.

Having a Senior Moment? Come learn about Forests...

We like to serve our public where they are sometimes! We know it can be difficult for seniors to get to our facilities and preserves, so once a year we bring our resources to them! All of the locations below welcome the public, but require registration to know how many people to accommodate. Call 586-2612 for more information.

The staff of the Champaign County Forest Preserve Education Department will be presenting lectures/activities at Canterbury Ridge, Clark-Lindsey and Windsor of Savoy (dates listed below). Natural Resources and Museum staff have teamed up to talk about the natural and cultural history of forests in companion talks, "Into the Woods-A Virtual Hike" and "Into the Woods: Forests in the Arts and Literature."

In January:

Thursday, January 19 INTO THE WOODS—A VIRTUAL HIKE
Clark-Lindsey Village, 101 W. Windsor Road, Urbana, 7:00 P.M. – 8:00 P.M.

Friday, January 20 INTO THE WOODS—A VIRTUAL HIKE
Emeritus at Canterbury Ridge, 1706 E Amber Ln, Urbana, 2:00 P.M. - 3:00 P.M.

Tuesday, January 31 INTO THE WOODS—A VIRTUAL HIKE
Windsor of Savoy, 401 Burwash Ave., Savoy, 2:00 P.M. - 3:00 P.M.

Here's a description of the Virtual Hike:
Senior citizens and mobility-limited individuals are invited to experience the sights and sounds of a woodland hike in the spring—without ever going outside! Along the way, we will discover and explore local woodland flora and fauna. Free.


Then in February:

Wednesday, February 8 INTO THE WOODS—FORESTS IN ART AND LITERATURE
Emeritus at Canterbury Ridge, 1706 E Amber Ln, Urbana, 10:30 A.M. – 11:30 A.M.
Windsor of Savoy, 401 Burwash Ave., Savoy, 2:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M

Thursday, February 9 INTO THE WOODS—FORESTS IN ART AND LITERATURE
Clark-Lindsey Village, 101 W. Windsor Road, Urbana, 7:00 P.M. – 8:00 P.M.

Here's a description of the "Forests in Art and Literature"

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,” Robert Frost says of the woods on a snowy evening in his famed poem. Woods, or forests, have been depicted as beautiful, dangerous and unfathomable in art and literature since ancient times. Barb Garvey, Assistant Director of the Museum of the Grand Prairie, will take you on a multimedia tour of the famous forests of the past, real and imagined, and delve into how our perceptions of the forest are influenced by depictions of them in the arts. Free.