Published on WBEZ 91.5 Chicago (http://www.wbez.org)
Source URL: http://www.wbez.org/bey/2010/04/serenity-in-the-city-can-you-guess-where-this-garden-is/20449

Serenity in the City: Can you guess where this garden is?

April 15, 2010


(photo by Lee Bey)

Look at the photo above. Where do you think this is?‚  (And reading ahead is cheating.)

Give up? The top photo is the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool on the south side of Fullerton between Cannon and Stockton drives. It is a place so visually far removed from the bustle and bam of the big city, you'd hardly guess you can get it by CTA bus. As the weather gets warmer--and things start to bloom--the Caldwell Lily Pool is a great spot to stroll and relax; one of the pleasant surprises Chicago can give you, if you're willing to go out and take a look around.


(photo by Lee Bey)

There are winding limestone paths and an array of flora.‚  The Chicago Park District property was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006, and was renamed in honor of Caldwell following his death in 1998.


(photo by Lee Bey)


(photo by Lee Bey)


(photo by Lee Bey)


(photo by Lee Bey)

Caldwell's words were as poetic as his landscapes. He wrote that he envisioned the place for everyone "and the very poor, naturally without hope of escape in Buicks"--meaning workaday Chicagoans who couldn't afford vacation travel.‚  Read here for more information on Caldwell,‚  the Lily Pool and how it was saved from disrepair back in the 1990s.