Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
as a resort for Chicago's aristocracy. Dotted with idyllic, picture-perfect towns
such as Kenilworth, Glencoe, and Winnetka, this area has long attracted film-
makers such as Robert Redford, who filmed
Ordinary People
in Lake Forest, and
the North Shore's own John Hughes, who has shot virtually every one of his
popular coming-of-age comedies (
Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Home
Alone,
and so on) here.
Although a Metra train line extends all the way to Lake Forest and neighbor-
ing Lake Bluff, I highly recommend that you rent a car and drive northward
along
Sheridan Road,
which wends its leisurely way through many of these
communities, past palatial homes and mansions designed in a startling array of
architectural styles. Next to Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, there is no more
impressive stretch of roadway in the entire metropolitan area.
EXPLORING EVANSTON
Despite being a place much frequented by Chicagoans, Evanston, the city's oldest
suburb, retains an identity all its own. A unique hybrid of sensibilities, it manages
to combine the tranquillity of suburban life with a highly cultured, urban charm.
It's great fun to just wander amid the shops and cafes located in its downtown area
or along funky Dempster Street at its southern end.
Northwestern University
(
&
847/491-3741;
www.northwestern.edu) makes its home here on a beautiful
lakefront campus, and many of its buildings—such as Alice Millar Chapel, with
its sublime stained-glass facade, and the Mary and Leigh Block Gallery, a fine arts
haven that offers a top-notch collection and always-intriguing temporary exhibi-
tions—are well worth several hours of exploration in their own right.
Evanston was also the home of Frances Willard, founder of the Women's Chris-
tian Temperance Union.
Willard House,
1730 Chicago Ave. (
&
847/328-7500
),
is open to visitors on the first and third Sunday of every month ($5 adults, $3 chil-
dren 12 and under). Nine of the 17 rooms in this old Victorian “Rest Cottage” (as
Willard called it) have been converted into a museum of period furnishings and
temperance memorabilia. Among her personal effects is the bicycle that she affec-
tionately called “Gladys” and learned to ride late in life, in the process spurring
women across the country to do the same. The headquarters of the WCTU is still
located on the site.
Another interesting house museum is the former
mansion of Charles Gates
Dawes,
a wealthy financier who served as vice president under Calvin Coolidge
and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925 for his smooth handling of German repa-
rations on behalf of the League of Nations following World War I. It now houses
the
Evanston Historical Society,
225 Greenwood St. (
&
847/475-3410
), which
provides 1-hour tours of this restored century-old landmark Thursday through
Sunday from 1 to 5pm ($5 adults, $3 seniors and children 18 and under).
Tucked away in north Evanston—a few miles from the Northwestern cam-
pus—is the unusual and informative
Mitchell Museum of the American Indian,
2600 Central Park Ave. (
&
847/475-1030;
www.mitchellmuseum.org), with a
collection ranging from stoneware tools and weapons to the work of contempo-
rary Native American artists. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from
10am to 5pm (Thurs until 8pm), and Sunday from noon to 4pm. It's closed on
holidays and during the last 2 weeks of August. Admission is $5 for adults, $2.50
for seniors and children. Call in advance to arrange a volunteer-led tour.
For a bit of serenity, head to
Grosse Point Lighthouse and Maritime Museum,
2601 Sheridan Rd. (
&
847/328-6961
), a historic lighthouse built in 1873, when
Lake Michigan still teemed with cargo-laden ships. Tours of the lighthouse, situated
