Meet the Oaks
Cantigny Park’s Oak Colonnade, a key part of Project New Leaf, is complete. The new pedestrian walkways and civic scale allée of oak trees at the front of the park will serve as a dramatic and unifying landscape element for...
Elevating the Guest Experience
A year ago, naming the highest point on Cantigny’s 500 acres might have been a puzzler. Now there is no question: It’s Butterfly Hill, the newly created overlook at the south end of the Oak Colonnade. At approximately 800 feet...
Coming Soon: More Parking!
Good news: Cantigny is about to have a lot more parking capacity. The south lot, to your right as you enter the park from Winfield Road, will soon offer 350 additional spaces. This represents a 30% increase in total parking...
Project Update, Summer 2018
We are in the “home stretch” of Project New Leaf’s Phase One, with completion scheduled for this fall. Your patience is appreciated as we improve the park for you and for future generations of Cantigny visitors. It’s always good news...
Standing Guard, Without a Scratch
For nearly a decade, the bronze Lion of Cantigny has kept watch outside the Visitors Center. The WWI “doughboy” soldier by sculptor Stephen Spears was dedicated on Veterans Day, November 11, 2008. During construction of the Arrival Plaza, a key...
Canoes or Battleships?
Parks visitors may notice that the new flower beds in the soon-to-be-completed Oak Colonnade have a distinctive shape. The beds are generally known as “canoes” among Cantigny staff members, especially those in Horticulture. To others, once planted, they resemble battleships....
Project Update, Spring 2018
We are well into the second full year of Project New Leaf and there is much to report. Thanks for your patience as we improve the park. Naturally we devoted the winter months to indoor work, primarily an extensive remodeling...
Red Oaks Farm Playground
We’re in the final stages of construction for the Red Oaks Farm playground, located in the picnic area. A Memorial Day weekend opening is anticipated, weather permitting. The playground’s name recalls the rich history of Cantigny. When Joseph Medill purchased...
Golf Course Update
When Project New Leaf began in late 2016, we said the golf course would not be affected. Last spring, however, complications regarding the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ jurisdiction of wetlands along Woodside No. 2 stream led to a decision...
Work Begins on Visitors Center
If you’ve visited the park recently you probably noticed some new construction activity in and around the Visitors Center. Here’s a summary of what’s going on. Just after Veterans Day, work began on a new entrance vestibule for Le Jardin,...