A paved 1.7-mile trail lined with tall trees and willowy wetland plants now loops through the Oak Forest Heritage Preserve, offering Southland residents an opportunity to get out into nature and learn the history of the important historical site from interpretive signage posted on pullouts along the path.
Officials from Cook County and nearby municipalities held a ribbon cutting ceremony Wednesday to celebrate the trail’s opening, following an approximately 18-month construction process.
“We’re thrilled to open this site for the public’s enjoyment and to give visitors an opportunity to learn about the rich history of this area and to experience the health benefits of nature,” Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said at the ceremony.
Prior to its purchase by the Cook County Forest Preserves, the 176-acre site, located next to the Oak Forest Health Center off of 159th Street, was owned by the county and used for a variety of purposes including as a poor farm, a tuberculosis treatment center and a pauper burial site.
In the late 1950s, state archaeologists uncovered the remains of a Native American village within the preserve that dated back to the late 1600s. The discovery, which included iron, stone and bone tools and artifacts, was the first of its kind in northeastern Illinois.
When the Forest Preserves acquired the land in 2010, it developed a master plan that laid out a vision for the future that included access improvements, ecological restoration and the preservation and memorialization of the site’s history.
The creation of the paved loop trail and installation of four interpretive signboards along it mark the completion of the plan’s first phase.
Forest preserve officials, wanting both to preserve and incorporate aspects of the site’s unique history into the trail’s construction, had to overcome a number of logistical difficulties during the process.
“It had a lot of interesting planning challenges, but at the end of the day when you walk through the site it’s very relaxing and it sort of accomplishes our mission,” said Arnold Randall, general superintendent of the Forest Preserves of Cook County.
Randall said he hopes eventually to add a visitor center at the site and digitize the existing handwritten records that contain information about the indigent men, women and children who were buried there in unmarked graves from 1911 to 1971.
Officials at the time recorded the name, age, country of origin, occupation and cause and location of death for the approximately 90,000 individuals who were buried in the potter’s field on site, he said.
“This could almost be like an Ellis Island of the Midwest, where you could go on a website or database and look for people that could be family members,” Randall said of digitizing the records. “You wouldn’t know exactly where they were buried, but you would know that they were here. I would bet there are a lot of people here in the region who don’t realize that they have family members who are buried here.”
In the meantime, the Forest Preserve, which considers the property ones of its signature gateway sites, is hoping to increase the public’s awareness of the preserve by encouraging both individuals and school groups to stop by for a stroll.
“This facility is not only great for Oak Forest but for the Southland as a region,” said Hazel Crest Mayor Vernard Alsberry, whose community is located to the southeast of the site. “To have a place where we can actually come out and enjoy the beauty of our community and the beauty of our region.”
Visitors to the trail, which has been open to the public since spring, can access it from three different locations — through the Oak Forest Health Center’s main entrance on 159th Street; from a new 30-space parking lot on the southeastern side of the preserve off of Fieldcrest Drive; or via a connection with Oak Forest’s Fieldcrest Park to the southwest of the preserve.
Twitter: @ZakKoeske