SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) today announced all state historic sites and visitor’s centers will reopen effective Jan. 26.

“Following the recent announcement from the Illinois Department of Public Health that all regions in the Restore Illinois plan have moved out of tier 3, and under mitigation guidelines established in the Restore Illinois plan, the IDNR Office of Land Management is excited to reopen all visitors centers, indoor historic sites and, most notably, resume our volunteer programs around the state,” said Von Bandy, director, Office of Land Management, IDNR. “Opening our sites safely to the public and our staff, utilizing our volunteer base again and introducing some new types of interpretive programming creates a lot of enthusiasm heading into what we hope is an exciting spring 2021.”

All state historic sites and visitor’s centers will continue to follow public health directives and the following guidelines:

• Guided interpretive tour groups are limited to 10 people or less, require face coverings, will be socially distanced and include enhanced site cleaning procedures;  • Total site capacity will be limited to 50 people or no more than 25 percent occupancy in public facing areas, require face coverings, will be socially distanced and include enhanced cleaning procedures; and • Concession operations can open and will follow respective tier restrictions.

Some sites may have further scheduling restrictions, based on staffing, facility size and programming available. For details to help plan a trip to a historic site, visit https://www2.illinois.gov/dnrhistoric/Pages/default.aspx, then click on the site link for further details.  Guests may also visit individual sites social media pages for updates.

1/22/2021