Ferne Clyffe State Park is an Illinois state park on in Johnson County,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The nearest town is Goreville, Illinois, and the nearest connection to a

limited-access highway A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway, expressway, limited access freeway, and partial controlled access highway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which ...

is at Exit 7 on the Illinois portion of

Interstate 24 Interstate 24 (I-24) is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It runs diagonally from I-57, south of Marion, Illinois, to Chattanooga, Tennessee, at I-75. It travels through Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, ...

. The land for the park was purchased by the state in 1949 from Emma Rebman, and the park is currently operated by the

Illinois Department of Natural Resources The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) is the code department of the Illinois state government that operates the state parks and state recreation areas, enforces the fishing and game laws of Illinois, regulates Illinois coal mines, ...

(IDNR). The original entrance to the park, located on the outskirts of Goreville, was found to be a potentially hazardous driving route, and was replaced by a new entrance located on

Illinois Route 37 Illinois Route 37, Illinois 37 or IL 37, is a north–south state highway in southern Illinois. IL 37's southern terminus is at U.S. Route 51 (US 51) and IL 3 in Cairo and the northern terminus is at US 45 in Watson. Route ...

in the early 1980s. Although traffic upon it has been practically non-existent since 1982, Ferne Clyffe is also accessible to

US Bicycle Route 76 U.S. Bicycle Route 76 (USBR 76) is a cross-country bicycle route east of Colorado in the United States. It is one of the two original U.S. Bicycle Routes, the other being U.S. Bicycle Route 1. USBR 76 runs from the Midwestern state of Kansas ...

by way of a spur trail along the east side of IL 37.

Natural Features

Ferne Clyffe's acreage holds a number of notable geographic features, including limestone bluffs, naturally forested woodlands, cliff caves, and several small seasonal

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in severa ...

s fed by runoff from the upper bluffs in the area.

Ferne Clyffe Lake

In the late 1950s, the IDNR constructed an earthen dam across ''Buck Branch Creek''. An artificial lake, ''Ferne Clyffe Lake'', had filled by 1960.

References

* * * State parks of Illinois Reservoirs in Illinois Protected areas of Johnson County, Illinois Protected areas established in 1949 Hiking trails in Illinois Former lakes of the United States Landforms of Johnson County, Illinois 1949 establishments in Illinois {{JohnsonCountyIL-geo-stub