Rock Springs Conservation Area is a 1,300 acre (5 km²) park located 4 miles (6.5 km) southwest of

Decatur, Illinois Decatur ( ) is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois, with a population of 70,522 as of the 2020 Census. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Ce ...

. Centering on the Rock Spring Nature Center, a small environmental-education museum and community center, it is the largest parcel of parkland, in terms of surface area, in Macon County. The conservation area and nature center are operated 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 ...

. ''Rock Spring'' is a natural outflow of water from the sandstone bluffs on the south bank of the

Sangamon River The Sangamon River is a principal tributary of the Illinois River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 in central Illinois in the United Stat ...

. The spring was a meeting point for local Native Americans. Around 1915 and 1916 a bottling plant bottled spring water for sale to local merchants. Only ruins of the building remain today. Nearby is ''Miller's Mill'', the site of a 19th-century

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

that ground local

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

into

cornmeal Cornmeal is a meal (coarse flour) or a cell membrane ground from dried corn. It is a common staple food, and is ground to coarse, medium, and fine consistencies, but not as fine as wheat flour can be.Herbst, Sharon, ''Food Lover's Companion'', ...

. There is an informational kiosk on the trail overlooking the mill site which tells the history of the mill. The area surrounding the springs consists of Sangamon River

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s and low bluffs of marginal agricultural productivity. As the population of Decatur grew sharply in the early 20th century, large parcels of land alongside the Sangamon were condemned so that the metropolis could build a modern

sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged from residenc ...

plant. More than two square miles of land around and downstream from the plant was redesignated as a nature center and buffer zone. Six miles (10 km) of nature trails provide access to the conservation area. Largely wooded, parts of the conservation area have been planted as restoration

tallgrass prairie The tallgrass prairie is an ecosystem native to central North America. Historically, natural and anthropogenic fire, as well as grazing by large mammals (primarily bison) provided periodic disturbances to these ecosystems, limiting the encroach ...

. The current Rock Springs Conservation Area and Nature Center are the products of this urban-planning initiative. The center is operated by the Macon County Conservation District. 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 tra ...

, southwest of Decatur.

References

External links

Rock Springs Conservation Area & Nature Center
- official site {{Coord, 39.8245, -89.0128, type:landmark_region:US-IL, display=title Nature reserves in Illinois Protected areas of Macon County, Illinois Tourist attractions in Macon County, Illinois Nature centers in Illinois