White Oak Trail

NEWS ALERT – before you read, I think I have finally figured out how to write so that you, dear reader,  can just click and, tada, presto, chango, it will take you right there.  

Yesterday, we returned to the Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center. It was the type of autumnal Sunday afternoon that atoned for all the rain and cold and gloom we have been experiencing.  One of those fleeting Indian Summer days where you know you just have to go out and rejoice in its splendor.

So, off we went for a walk in the woods, this time taking the White Oak Trail. This easy path meanders in a pleasant loop, past prairie grasses, overlooking deep ravines, and through a still, oak forest.  On Sunday, however, we could barely see the path. It was so densely covered with fallen oak leaves that only at brief intermissions where pea gravel peeked through were we certain we were still on it. While we could hear the din of traffic now that the trees were bare, we could also hear the shuffling sound that only leaves underfoot can make. Autumn leaves promote a walking rhythm found no other time of year, and nowhere else but where trees drop their leaves and lay nature’s carpet and we resort back to childhood as we crunch along the paths that only nature can pave. I think it takes an effort to walk in leaves without shuffling along. Don’t you agree?

"Hansel, where are the crumbs?" queried Gretel.

Children and young couples, grandparents and mature mates, such as ourselves, all walked the woods enjoying the very same scene. Even a lone frog who ventured out to loll in the sun on a log enjoyed the woods.

The new nature center is taking shape and I am anxious to see what it holds. Close by are some beehives. Can there be schoolhouse honey in the future? We spent some time talking to a forest preserve district employee about the new center’s opening, which is scheduled for January, 2010. She also told us that the schoolhouse will become a historical museum about the Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center. What a great use of the building – it will give visitors a sense of the history of the area and nearby residents a pride of place.  Information on the red schoolhouse can be found at   www.fpdcc.com/tier3.php

Saturday night I attended a gala fundraiser for the Old Churchville one room schoolhouse in unincorporated Du Page County. It is one of a handful of pre-civil war schoolhouses still on its original site. Information on the Churchville One Room Schoolhouse can be found at  www.elmhurst.org/index.aspx?NID=496
It is exciting that after many years the time has come where repair work can begin. Someday soon it will reopen and be a living history museum where children can experience learning in a one room school. Like the Little Red Schoolhouse, the Old Churchville School embodies the idea of neighborhood schools in Illinois. At one time there was a schoolhouse every square mile in Illinois that educated farm children and children of small towns all across our prairies and woods.  While it is no longer practical to maintain school systems like this, these buildings are lasting reminders of early public education.

Drats! Now I’ve done it! I think I need to go find one of my Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder and take step back in time.

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