Lincoln Memorial Garden Nature Center

Beautiful peaceful place to hike and enjoy nature!

I've probably been to Springfield a dozen times but never knew about this place. Great wooden hiking trails on about 100 acres of land overlooking Lake Springfield in parts. The visitors center is currently closed because of Covid so there are no restrooms available so take that into consideration. We had an almost three year old with us who loved running around on the wood chip paths and several bridges that we came across on our under an hour of hiking.
We'll definitely come back the next time we're in town and need a dose of nature.

There are a lot of nice trails here that are worth a visit, no matter if its leafy green or covered in snow. I've always found it to be peaceful and sparsely populated. There are no elevation changes or epic vistas, but it's a great place to spend an hour or two on the trails. Some go through the woods, some over creeks, and some next to Lake Springfield.

Lovely park!! Nice and quite. We walk to the lake and stay there for an hour, it was really relaxing.
The view is great, many little places to see around, nice view

Went during the winter and it was freezing! But the paths were still maintained and were peaceful and serene. Lots of cute little bridges and beautiful views of Lake Springfield.

Wow! What an awesome find! Beautiful nature paths with lots of shade just minutes from the highway. There are about 6 miles of hiking paths that are very well maintained and mostly shaded, although there is a part that goes through the prairie. When we were there, the cicadas were so loud they were almost deafening, but other than that the bugs were not too bad. Make sure you stop at the visitor center first and grab a map so you don't have to try and memorize trail names. We walked for about 2 hours and just loved it. We plan to come back each time we are in Springfield and feel like stretching our legs

*I should probably mention that these are human foot traffic only trails. No bikes, no dogs.

Beautiful, quiet and relaxing trails. Very well maintained! Love it here. Lovely lake and plenty of benches to sit down to take it all in.

Never a bad time of year to go. I have been going there for over 40 years. Actually a cold overcast day in late winter late in the afternoon, though stark, is a delight of solitude. Rarely another person there. Just you, the feeding deer, and the still small voice of nature.