• Chautauqua,  Events,  Presentation

    Ways to Discovery Chautauqua Series – June 1 – Celebrating National Trails Day

    The Chautauqua location is the Visitors Center Auditorium at New Salem State Historic Site, Petersburg, Illinois — 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.The venue is fully accessible, ensuring everyone can participate. Exploring Menard County In celebration of National Trails Day, Dr. Michael Wiant and Terri Treacy will present a program titled Exploring Menard County Trails: Ancient, Historical, Present and Futuristic. Long before roads, trails were traveled by foot between villages, favored hunting and gathering areas, and other points of interest by the Indigenous inhabitants of what we now know as Menard County. Many of these routes are unknowable, but some have persisted over centuries, if not longer, and have evolved into…

  • Chautauqua,  Events,  Presentation

    Ways to Discovery Chautauqua – April 6 – Celebrating Earth Month in Menard County

    The event will be held at the Visitors Center Auditorium at New Salem State Historic Site in Petersburg, Illinois — April 6, 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.RiverBank Lodge is fully accessible, ensuring everyone can participate. The wonderful watery world of river ecology! Dive into the wonderful watery world of river ecology with Dr. Jason DeBoer, Large River Scientist with the Illinois Natural History Survey!  Jason’s presentation will explain why rivers are important ecosystems, describe some of the threats our local rivers face, and explore some of the wild, weird, and downright wacky fish and other animals that call our rivers home.  There’s bound to be a few ‘fish tales’ shared…