Marberry Arboretum — Attraction in Illinois

This place definitely needs to be advertised better! I've never even heard of it until today. Not like the ones you usually hear about like giant city or garden of the gods. Granted the scenery here isn't exactly the same but it has some nice areas to it!

Nothing is well marked so you're kind of on your own to just walk and explore as you please. There may be a map somewhere online for it, but we just showed up and hiked in and we did alright.

There is a nice picnic area that's wide open and would be a nice place to visit in the summer. There's a trail that wraps around a small pond near the back and if you search long enough there's another trail that leads you to a "bamboo forest". That was super cool and well worth the muddy hike.

The parking lot is muddy and full of potholes so just be aware. As long as you're geared up properly, this place is definitely...

It's a small forest, maybe even grove with a crazy biodiversity. For me, after Texas, it was like heaven. So many plant species, so many birds! We saw a big opossum on our very first visit. It's always exciting to see wild nature in action. There's mushrooms, and different amphibians. A big meadow with many, many vines of wild blackberries. There are tables for responsible picnic on this meadow as well. And bamboo grove inside this forest is so magical! Yes, this arboretum needs some maintenance, but it's not that critical. It's hard to get lost there because there's mostly...

It's so sad knowing what a treasure this once was and then seeing it now. It looks nothing like it did, even in the early 2000s. We've squandered the gift we were given. We could have had a destination arboretum here. Now it's in ruin. Why do we always have to wait until we get to the point of no return to finally wake up and realize that maybe we should take...