Griswold Conservation Area is a 43-acre (0.17 km²) park located 0.5 miles northwest of
Blue Mound, Illinois
Blue Mound is a village in Macon County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,158 at the 2010 census, and 1,082 at a 2018 estimate. It is included in the Decatur, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Geography
Blue Mound is located ...
. The land preserve, which is operated by the
Macon County Conservation District, 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 for users in the farming area southwest of
Decatur. It is based on a land parcel donated to the county in 1973 by local benefactor and landowner Harry E. Griswold, and the conservation area is named in his honor.
The nearest major highway is
Illinois Route 48
Illinois Route 48 (IL 48) is an north–south state highway with its southern terminus at Interstate 55 (I-55) and IL 127 in Raymond and its northern terminus at IL 54 east of Clinton.
Route description
IL 48 t ...
, at Blue Mound.
Description
The kame
The adjacent village, Blue Mound, is named for the Griswold Conservation Area's significant glacial
kame
A kame, or ''knob'', is a glacial landform, an irregularly shaped hill or mound composed of sand, gravel and till that accumulates in a depression on a retreating glacier, and is then deposited on the land surface with further melting of the g ...
. This is a surface mound left behind by glaciers during the
Illinois glacial period. Ice masses, which melted circa 130,000 years B.P., left random heaps of gravel and loose rock behind. After the kame was quarried for
aggregate stone during an extended period of time, with removal activity climaxing in the 1930s, the remains of the mound were set aside for public preservation and use. The remaining kame reaches 706 feet above sea level, up to 80 feet above the flat farmland around the land preserve. A trail serves a public overlook.
Wildlife
The conservation area features predatory birds such as hawks and owls, which use the raised ground as an observation point just as humans do. Mammals listed by the Conservation District include groundhogs, skunks, opossums, deer, foxes, and coyotes.
References
External links
- official site
{{Coord, 39.7040, -89.1399, type:landmark_region:US-IL, display=title
Protected areas of Macon County, Illinois
Tourist attractions in Macon County, Illinois
1973 establishments in Illinois
Protected areas established in 1973