Independence Grove Forest Preserve

Well designed Park with paved trails mostly and a few Gravel areas that are well taken care of. Park has a place for children to play, a beer pavilion and beach With 110 acres. Great walk with miles of trails.

Independence Grove Forest Preserve is one of the big benefits of Lake County residents that we sometimes take it for granted. This park is beautiful and just amazing. It has everything; many paved or sand paths for walking, biking or running, fishing pier, many picnic areas all around the park, you can rent bikes, peddle boats, canoes, kayaks and a big boat! The children area is very well maintained and clean,plus there’s beer garden in the afternoon. You do have to show your id upon entrance to prove if you a Lake County resident to get free entry, otherwise its only $6 which is not bad at all, considering you can spend the whole day here enjoying all the amenities during summer times.

I can spend all day talking about how wonderful this place is. My son graduated from boot camp. We came in a few days early to scope out different areas of interest that we could present to him as places to spend some time together as a family when he was on leave. We had a list of five different places we planned to visit that day, first on the list was Independence Grove. We never made it to the other four because we knew the minute we stepped foot on the property here that this was the place. It's amazing. It's beautiful, spacious, clean. There's a beer garden and a cafe. You can rent bicycles, even including a handicap accessible bicycle operated by a hand pedal. There are hiking trails. A beach with fire pits and swimming. There's plenty of seating out on the wooden deck that oversees the lake. Fishing is amazing. There's a little shop that sells most of what you could possibly need. Oh and the playground? Amazing. I couldn't think of one thing bad to say about this place. Whoever designed it knew what they were doing. And the staff was amazing. The friendlyest and kindest people you could ever want to meet. It's free to residents. It's the hidden gem. Definitely the most recommended place to visit in Illinois from this family so far.