Fort Daniel Conservation Area is a 200-acre (0.8 km²) park located 4 miles (6.5 km) east of

Mount Zion, Illinois Mount Zion is a village in Macon County, Illinois, United States. The population was 6,019 at the 2020 census. Geography Mount Zion is located in southeastern Macon County at (39.777967, -88.878614). It is bordered to the northwest by the ci ...

. The land preserve protects the site of a

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

, ''Whistleville''. Today, the site centers on

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

and picknicking in the Big Creek watershed southeast of Decatur. Five marked trails comprise 4.5 miles (7.0 km) of hiking opportunities that cross and recross Big Creek. At the north end of the conservation area, a recreational complex includes a picnic shelter, playground, and

fire ring A fire ring is a construction or device used to contain campfires and prevent them from spreading and turning into wildfires. A fire ring is designed to contain a fire that is built directly upon the ground, such as a campfire. Fire rings have ...

. Tree watchers are encouraged to find and identify the sugar maples, chinquapin oaks, pawpaw, wafer ash, and

Kentucky coffeetree The Kentucky coffeetree (''Gymnocladus dioicus''), also known as American coffee berry, Kentucky mahogany, nicker tree, and stump tree, is a tree in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae of the legume family Fabaceae, native to the Midwest, Upper South ...

s that grow in the conservation area. The conservation area is maintained by the

Macon County Conservation District The Macon County Conservation District (MCCD) is a public park authority, created in 1966, serving the metropolitan area of Decatur in the U.S. state of Illinois. The conservation district operates five conservation areas and six historic sites, a ...

. In August 2022, a private-sector donor awarded a $2.9 million grant to the MCCD to enable a 236-acre land acquisition adjacent to the existing Area. The grant will roughly double the size of the Area. The nearest major highway is

Illinois Route 121 Illinois Route 121 (IL 121) is a major state highway in the central part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Although it travels from northwest to southeast, it is marked as a north–south highway.Sarjeant, CharlesIllinois 121. Retrieved ...

, southeast of Decatur.

Whistleville

Although the Big Creek upper watershed is open space now, it was one of the first points settled by Euro-Americans in the 1820s in what became Macon County. Looking for wooded land and firewood on the unforested prairie, the settlers found mature oaks and hickories here. The first comers named their pioneer village ''Whistleville''. Soon a stagecoach route made the settlement a port of call between

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

and

Central Illinois Central Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois that consists of the entire central third of the state, divided from north to south. Also known as the ''Heart of Illinois'', it is characterized by small towns and mid-sized cities. Agri ...

. Early settlers were mostly from the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

, and the settlement was identified as a location of Southern sympathizers during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. After the Civil War, Whistleville dwindled and disappeared into ghost town status.

References

External links

Official website
Ghost towns in Illinois Protected areas of Macon County, Illinois Tourist attractions in Macon County, Illinois {{Illinois-protected-area-stub