City: Chicago, IL

Category: Parks & Recreation

Description: Just a quick hop from the Lincoln Park Zoo, this lovely hidden gem boasts National Historic Landmark status for its rare Prairie-style design by acclaimed landscape architect Alfred Caldwell, a protégé of Jens Jensen. A restoration of the 1½-acre pool was completed in 2002, providing even more reason to visit this picturesque spot, where water lilies and other aquatic plants mingle and sway, sunlight dapples oak, hawthorn, and wildflowers, a recorded 200 species of birds pop in for a rest, along with frogs, turtles, and butterflies, and a waterfall trickles over rock formations that are meant to hint at the Midwest’s glacial history. From May to October, a docent is available for tours and questions on the hour and half-hour on Fri and Sun from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., and on Sat from 9 a.m. to noon. Free. Open May through Oct, 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., weather dependent.