Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
Under $25Chicago natural history museum for children and families, run by the Chicago Academy of Sciences, with a live butterfly house.
Transit: reachable by public transit

Photo: TonyTheTiger, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.
A hidden Prairie School garden in Lincoln Park built around a lily pool, pavilion, and native plantings.
125 W. Fullerton Parkway, Chicago, IL · Chicago, IL
A small garden in Lincoln Park, Chicago, designed by landscape architect Alfred Caldwell to evoke a river winding through a Midwestern prairie. Visitors enter through a Prairie-style gate and follow a stone path around the pool to find a pavilion, a council ring, a waterfall, and native plantings. The site was first a Victorian garden in 1889, fell into disrepair, and was redesigned by Caldwell in 1936. Later it served as a zoo bird exhibit before the Lincoln Park Conservancy restored it. Strict rules protect the plants, so visitors must stay on the paths and avoid wading, picnicking, or feeding wildlife.
The closest stops to Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.
Chicago natural history museum for children and families, run by the Chicago Academy of Sciences, with a live butterfly house.
Transit: reachable by public transit
Steps awaySwitch it up: Museums
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