A crumbling mountain resort that looks like it was abandoned in an instant.

This tree was warped centuries ago to serve as a botanical wayfaring tool.

A subterranean world of tunnels links several buildings of this rare 19th-century asylum.

Former self-sufficient mental institution now a planned community.

Walk along the intricate path of this stone labyrinth and gardens.

This lush 12-acre site was once named the finest Japanese garden in North America.

The city of Rockford, Illinois is symbolically protected by a quartet of fittingly stony sentinels.

This unassuming city park is home to three different types of Native American mounds.

This baseball diamond was home to the Rockford Peaches, a team featured in the hit film "A League of Their Own."

Chicago’s incendiary role in the labor movement.

A plaque marks a former safe house on the secret route, now hidden next to a McDonald's.

One of Chicago's last seafood smokehouses perfects a dying breed of fishcraft.

A hollow cement depiction of time's inexorable effect on the human body.

The original Garfield station is the oldest station facility on the "L", with the station house dating from 1892.

What's left of the ruins of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition, or World's Fair, also known as the White City.

Also known as the Osaka Garden, this garden was originally built in 1893 as part of the World's Columbian Exposition.

This modest post office sits on the site of H.H. Holmes' famous murder castle.

One of the few remaining relics of the meatpacking hub that made Chicago the "hog butcher to the world."

A lush green oasis in the middle of Chicago.

Roses and other fascinating flora fill this garden built to commemorate Britain's immortal Bard.

A shining sculpture made of 3,115 lights, the number of visible stars in the Northern Hemisphere.

Landmark Chicago building narrowly avoided destruction.

This shop for all your super spy needs hides an educational secret.

A Bibliophile's Dream.