It is late March and the spring bloom is almost here along the southern end of Lake Michigan, almost. I suspect that the cold winter has pushed things back a bit as compared to last year. There is definitely a lot of green pushing its way up from under the blanket of fallen leaves from last year, but not too much yet in the way of blooming wildflowers. Not that there is anything wrong with that, with nature you take what it gives and that is part of what makes it so special. You never know what you are going to see on any given outing.
(You can click on any of the images below to view them full size.)
In the marshes we do have skunk cabbage and crocus’s popping up.
This is pretty typical of what you see along the Great Marsh trail right now. Doesn’t seem like much to look at. This spot however was one of many that was packed with Skunk Cabbage. Skunk Cabbage is an early flowering plant that generates heat to push its way up through snow. It has a skunky smell which attracts flys which are the most common early pollenators.Get down closer to the ground and you can see the Skunk Cabbages with their red and green coloring.Get in really close and you can see the fruit hiding inside. Skunk Cabbage tend to come up either singly or in tight clumps of 3 to 4 plants.
Crocus’s are small, but their intense purples make them pretty easy to spot among the tans and browns that make up most of the early spring ground clutter.
Crocus’s appear in nice size patches. Some Crocus’s can be a very rich, deep hue of purple. The Stamen/Pistil is an equally rich golden-yellow color.Others have translucent white petals.And some are a wonderful combination of purple veined white.
Back in December the Indiana Dunes National Park conducted a controlled burn in the Derby Ditch region of the Great Marsh that I was able to observe in progress. A couple of months later I decided it was time to go exploring this part of the marsh which has been reclaimed from former residential use, but has not seen any restoration efforts yet. It is fun and interesting for me to explore areas like this just to see what I can find. The image above shows my track through this area as recorded by my GPS, which is a fun little gadget which will probably be the subject of a post of its own.
This is what the area looks like. Lots of standing water, soft mud and heavily overgrown with buckthorn and other assorted briar plants. Pushing through in the summer is difficult, and you would likely pick up about a pound of ticks in doing so.
But late fall through early spring it is more navigable. After the controlled burn, I wanted to see if I could make my way to some locations I had been trying to get to, where I suspected there should be some remains from the Century of Progress Colonial Village homes that were relocated here in the 1930’s.
When I arrived, the first thing I noticed was that the park had opened up Jones Rd. so that the fire fighters could access it for the controlled burn. Before the burn this abandoned road was heavily overgrown, but even so it was the best access point from which to enter the area. But with the road cleared it was so much easier going and off I went into the unrestored marsh.Not too far down Jones Rd. from Broadway, is this area which I believe was once a botanical garden associated with the Beverly Shores Inn that was destroyed by fire in the 1970’s. The recent controlled burn here swept the area pretty good. I am very interested to see how it looks come spring.As I pushed further into the marsh I eventually made it to the spot I had been trying to find. The combination of the controlled burn and the clearing of Jones Rd. made it relatively easy. Here I found the remains of a structure (a low wall in the center of the photograph) that I think may have been the Governor’s Mansion from the Colonial Village.
Why do I think I found the remnant of this particular building? Old maps of the area. I love maps in general and old historical ones in particular.
This promotional map indicates that the Governor’s Mansion was located in the general area I was exploring, south of Beverly Dr. and east of Broadway. However this map only shows the relative positions of things. To get a better idea where actual structures were located at that time I found an aerial photograph from the 1930’s.The green X on this aerial photograph corresponds to the same location as the yellow X on my GPS track at the top of this post. So if the wall I found was not from the Governor’s Mansion itself, it was likely associated with it.
Ultimately I want to locate and ID the remains of all of these buildings in the Great Marsh. I consider this one such discovery. Was this a “discovery” of any significance? Was it even a discovery at all? I’d say no to both questions. The locations of these buildings is no secret, and many of them were still around when the park acquired them in the 1970’s. I enjoy exploring and learning new (to me) things about the history of the Indiana Dunes National Park. It is simple curiosity that draws me into these places and inspires me to research what was there before I started wandering around. It turns out that this beautiful nature area was very different not so long ago. Knowing more about this history gives me greater appreciation of the work done to restore it. So the “discovery” of these remains was a very cool moment for me personally.
