Captivating Gardens Transform Space at the History Center

By Carol Summerfield

If you haven’t been by the corner of Deerpath and Washington Road lately, you might have missed the transformation of the two acres around the History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff. Over the past 18 months, the grounds have changed from a lawn and parking lot into garden space that tells the evolution of garden design in Lake Forest.

On the East Coast, when the grand estates were built along the Atlantic Ocean and up the Hudson River, they were most often constructed on land that had been used for farming for more than a century. There wasn’t a lot of nature to preserve.

The gardens at the History Center are open to the public daily.

But here in Lake Forest, there was beautiful wilderness to protect. While farms were scattered west of Green Bay, many of the native biomes remained undisturbed. The ravines and surrounding tablelands were forested with oaks and other mature native trees. In the Middlefork Savanna, along the swampy edges of our branch of the Chicago River, a rich variety of native prairie plants have fueled migratory birds for centuries. Families in Lake Forest and Lake Bluff preserved the surrounding native environments from the early 1900s on and, in doing so, changed the way landscape design was done. Landscape designers worked to incorporate that natural environment, whether it was through the plantings, the borrowed view of the natural landscape in their design or in the design itself.

The gardens at the History Center tell that story. The half-mile of paths on the grounds of the museum takes you on a journey from the grand traditional gardens of the late 1800s through the evolution from European design to Asian and naturalistic design, into the transformative 1950s, and finally to what we consider modern garden design. As far as we have been able to find, our local gardens are unique in showing that historical arc of design change.

Each garden also holds ornamentation and statues that represent the garden’s design era. The statues, gates and follies in our gardens have graced estates in Lake Forest. We have two Lake Forest artists represented as well, with sculptures from Joe Sumichrast and Jean Greene. With more than 15 ornamental objects, there’s something to please every taste.

The History Center’s gardens offer interpretive signage that helps the visitor understand why the designs came about. The paths are designed for accessibility, so all can enjoy the space. There are benches so you can sit and enjoy the view at your leisure.

And the gardens offer a rich array of wildlife. There are frogs and toads in the rain garden, an ever-changing array of butterflies in the courtyard garden, and you might catch a migrating bird at the feeder. We’ve had a fox strolling across the grounds during one of our tours, to the delight of our visitors. And a raccoon has been leaving footprints on the sidewalk and one of our benches, where he must be enjoying a rest at night.

There are also three little Godzilla statues scattered in the garden, hidden away, for our younger visitors to find. They guard the gardens and provide a delightful surprise upon their discovery by unsuspecting visitors.

While the museum is open Tuesday through Thursday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and Saturdays from 1 p.m.-4 p.m., the gardens are open all day, every day for the public to enjoy. So, if you haven’t been by yet, please do take a peek. The gardens are here for everyone to enjoy.

Carol Summerfield is the executive director of the History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff.