cantigny park

Most people living in Chicago are not aware of Cantigny Park. Lot of things to do while there. Great war museum with tanks on outside the kids can climb on. Great flower gardens. Free tour of the McCormak home. If you check the schedule they have art fairs, music, and other activities. You can even camp on the grounds.Low entry price, it's based on per car basis. Everything is free once in. One of the best places to visit while in Chicago

Cantigny Park boasts wonderful park grounds for gatherings of family and friends. They host many community events like Revolutionary War Re Enactment in September, Antique Car Show, Lego Show in December, French Market in June, Concerts of all types of music . . . check out their calendar online. The flower gardens are lovely to walk through and admire. The tanks are a favorite for the kids! Get out and play there this Summer and Fall!

Cantigny is a large park including a museum, tanks that kids can climb on and explore and lovely gardens. There is something for everyone even if you just want to have a picnic and enjoy the beauty of nature!

I have been visiting Cantigny for over 50 years. They have made many improvements over the years. It keeps getting better and better. The grounds are gorgeous amd very clean. The museum is small but one of the best I have been to.I love watching the D day movie. It is top notch. They have a lovely restaurant with great food and reasonably priced items. They have a lot of special events which are well done. I have traveled all over the world Cantigny is always tops on the places I have visited. If you are visiting Chicago it is worth the drive. You can spend an hour to all day at Cantigny.

I love this park..the roses in the summer the activites most of theyear..have something for everyone ..from Civil War..displays andreinactments..to art and photo galleries..to Army tanks for theboys to climb on... to the nice resturant for indoor or outdoor dining.

The sites are beautiful. Very nice golf course. The museum is outstanding and a wonderful learning experience for the children and adults alike. I am a former military man and still like going there at least once a month.

This place is amazing. I would recommend it to anyone who will be visiting Chicago for a few days and wants to venture out of the city for a few hours. It is really beautiful and plenty to do. There is also a museum on the grounds as well that is worth seeing. It is about a 45 minute drive outside the city but very easy to get to. Well worth the drive!

Col. Robert McCormick, one-time publisher of the Chicago Tribune, turned his 500-acre estate in west suburban Wheaton into an experiment of nature, a horticultural wonderland, a place where the public can visit and enjoy so many things, from shopping to golfing to dining to touring the gardens and the museum to listening to lectures to strolling the grounds. My late father was attracted to Cantigny because Col. McCormick dedicated his museum to the Big Red One, the 1st Infantry Division, my father's division, that stormed Omaha Beach at Normandy on D-Day in 1944. For a $5 fee to park your car, you get a guided tour of McCormick's mansion, a walk through the beautiful gardens and grounds and entry to the museum. Kids love to crawl over the outdoor exhibit of battle tanks. If you're planning a family outing for a full day, be sure to play a round on Cantigny's 27-hole public golf course. There is so much to do and see and you can take a mid-day break in the restaurant. Start at the visitors center, a former horse stable that served as the 1st Division's museum from the early 1960s until the new museum opened in 1993. The giant floor map, built to a 1/25 scale of the property, gives you a birds-eye view of the grounds. Be sure to view the 12-minute orientation movie. Then you're all set to begin your journey around Cantigny. After Col. McCormick's death in 1955, the Board of Directors decided to change the focus of Cantigny from agricultural to horticultural. A world-class garden of more than 160,000 annuals, perennials, ground covers and flowering shrubs and trees was completed in 1967. There is so much to see and do. It is surprising that Cantigny isn't as well attended or as well publicized as it ought to be. I once lived in Wheaton, only a few blocks from Cantigny, and I recall that then--as well as now--most people just thought of Cantigny as Col. McCormick's mansion, nothing else. But, as you will see, there is so much more.

Beautiful. Simply beautiful. I loved going to Cantigny. The house and the lands and gardens were breathtaking. The tanks were awesome. Any boy would love it. It was awesome that one could touch history. The museums on the property were also really nice. While, I was there, there was a few weddings going on. Cantigny would be a beautiful and breathtaking place for a wedding. If you want to touch a piece of history or just go on a beautiful stroll, Cantigny is a wonderful place for both.

A great place for a family outing no matter what time of year. The grounds are full of landscaped trees and flowers. There is a huge and historic mansion to be explored. Finally, a museum dedicated to the first infantry, the Big Red One. All for only a five dollar parking fee. Huge battle tanks beckon the little ones on the grounds leading up to the museum. There are hiking trails throughout the park and various spots to sit and contemplate the nature all around you. A true oasis.

The $5 fee to park your car is best investment you'll ever make! That small fee gets you a guided tour of the McCormick mansion, a walk through the beautiful gardens and grounds, and entry to the museum of the 1st Infantry ("The Big Red 1"). Any one of which by itself would be worth at least $10 per person. Food service on the premises, but bring a picnic lunch and plan on spending 4-5 hours.

My parents live in the western suburbs, but I am in PA. Every time I go home for a visit I have to head to Cantigny for a visit. At various points in time, I have been there during a Revolutionary War encampment, an old-fashioned baseball game, their fall festival, on weekends and weekdays, I have been going to Cantigny for years, and remember the old museum honoring the First Division. The new museum is excellent, and highly interactive in that it immerses you in physical surroundings that reflect the war zones through the years. I remember going to concerts at the mansion and recently took my daughter through the mansion for the first time, and we were treated to a full house tour. Sadly, there are areas of the house in need of restoration, and my hope is that the trustees of the property find a way to preserve and protect this historic property. By far, the gardens are my favorite. I can think of no better way to enjoy a beautiful afternoon than strolling through different parts of the gardens with my parents and family. Oh, and the ice cream in the cafe is out of this world!! Every time I go, it feels like a treat, and only $5 per car! I am grateful to Col. McCormick for having the foresight to share his world with future generations, and hope that the quality of the grounds and home is preserved forever.

The grounds are beautiful. Every season has something to offer. The Glass blowing displays this week are very interesting and fascinating. The museum offers different displays and lectures.

We went with some friends to go and have a picnic and walk around and we come and they have they have the booths closed and a man working there comes and tells us they close one hour before sunset, I don't think you can just guess when sunset is, so we left and our whole evening was ruined. Sucky park don't recommend anyone going there after 5 or they will say it's sunset soon

What is not to like about somewhere within an hour of anywhere in the Chicago metropolitan area that lets you escape your daily routine for as short or as long of a visit as you feel like?! Truly a deal when you consider the only cost incurred is a $5 per car parking fee. We set out there on a recent Saturday and were able to get on the first mansion tour (free, but you must get tickets at the door on the east side of the mansion). We enjoyed an hour long whole house tour so be prepared to climb stairs and learn more about the amazing people who lived there! I like to stand and look around the room as the docent is speaking, checking out little things like the woodwork, hinges, book titles, etc. that they don't have time to point out in their already info-packed tour. We also enjoyed the war museum where you realize, yet again, the sacrifice of previous generations of our great country! The tanks right outside the museum can be sat upon if one desires. We made a game out of guessing how many mph they went, or how many crew members it would hold, or the thickness of the tank--all answers supplied on the information boards in front of each tank. There is a lovely gift shop, cafe, and a model of the grounds (in the floor) of the information building that you come to first from the parking lot. Take the time to look at the photographs hanging int he hallway and vote for your favorite (they change photographs periodically). We spent 4 hours there and all agreed we need to come back over and over and over again!