Goldfish Pond

The Goldfish Pond was one of Robert Allerton’s many unique landscaped areas left to the University for public enjoyment. This secluded spot not only provided habitat for aquatic and woodland species, but, like all of Robert’s gardens, was truly a piece of art.

Over time, the area became overgrown with invasive species and the pond filled with debris. In the fall of 2013, Allerton secured funding to completely dredge and regrade the pond, and plant the surrounding area with native wetland plants.

As the Goldfish Pond areas naturally returns to its original beauty and function, we hope it will once again serve Robert Allerton’s intended purpose of restful inner reflection.

Thank you to the following for making the Goldfish Pond Restoration possible: Marajen Stevick Foundation, Macon County Soil & Water Conservation District, and Clark Robinson.

Bear and Man of the Stone Age (1885)

Artist Emmanuel Fremiet (1824-1910)

This statue, along with the Gorilla Carrying off a Woman, came to the Urbana campus by mistake with the purchase of the contents of Lorado Taft’s studio in 1937. After years of being kept in storage and following prolonged negotiations, they were donated to the University in 1959 by the heir of the original owner. On display since then in Allerton’s woodlands, in the Krannert Art Museum, and in a major four-city national traveling exhibition (“The Romantics to Rodin), they have been back on display at Allerton Park since 2016.

Beautifully realized in bronze by the accomplished French sculptor Emmanuel Fremiet, the two powerful groups represent a standard of late nineteenth-century academic and popular taste that favored works contrasting bestial force with human figures of grace and vulnerability: angry beasts acting in accordance with their animal instincts, victims as well as perpetrators of terrifying violence, statues at once repulsive and sentimental.

When Fremiet first showed Bear and Man of the Stone Age at the 1885 Salon in Paris, it was made of plaster and listed in the official catalogue as Ours et Homme de l’oge de pierre. But to make the deadly serious subject matter wholly unambiguous, as if somehow in the abundance of telling details the story might somehow be misunderstood, the artist imprinted the words “Denicheur d’Oursons” on the statue-literally “Snatcher of Bearcubs from Their Nest.” Besides our original bronze, another cast of the same size is at the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, where children enjoy climbing over it.

This is no decorative statue; the tragic scene captures a moment of raw jungle justice in which all participants die helplessly. The cub, a pathetic, humanlike corpse, hangs by a tight noose from the burly trapper’s belt. The trapper’s closed eyes, claw wound, and last gasping breath herald an imminent demise. The furious mother bear, mortally wounded by the heavy dagger thrust in her throat, roars mightily and retaliates in a crushing death squeeze.

Fremiet’s considerable reputation arose from the anatomical accuracy of his works and his attention to archaeological details, his innovative techniques in rendering life-size animal groups, and his successful selling of copies and reproductions. Among his major works are the Wounded Dog in the Louvre, Faun Playing with Bear Cub in the Luxembourg, a gargantuan Elephant in the Trocadero, and the gilt-bronze Joan of Arc in the Place des Pyramides.

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Text from A Guide to Art at the University of Illinois: Urbana-Champaign, Robert Allerton Park, and Chicago by Muriel Scheinman. Copyright 1995 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Used with permission from the University of Illinois Press.

Fu Dog Garden

Capacity: 250

Each of our Formal Gardens creates a unique, magical space, featuring extensive plantings and over 100 ornaments and sculptures.

Outdoor garden events may be reserved in one of the following 3-hour time slots: 9am–12pm, 1–4pm, or 5-8pm. Because others may be using the same area on the same day, all activities (including photography and decorating) must begin and end within the rental period. If your event requires more than three hours, an additional three-hour time slot should be reserved. All garden events must end by 8pm unless prior approval is granted.

Gorilla Carrying Off a Stone Age Woman (1887)

Artist Emmanuel Fremiet (1824-1910)

This statue, along with Bear and Man of the Stone Age, came to the Urbana campus by mistake with the purchase of the contents of Lorado Taft’s studio in 1937. After years of being kept in storage and following prolonged negotiations, they were donated to the University in 1959 by the heir of the original owner. On display since then in Allerton’s woodlands, in the Krannert Art Museum, and in a major four-city national traveling exhibition (“The Romantics to Rodin), they have been back on display at Allerton Park since 2016.

Beautifully realized in bronze by the accomplished French sculptor Emmanuel Fremiet, the two powerful groups represent a standard of late nineteenth-century academic and popular taste that favored works contrasting bestial force with human figures of grace and vulnerability: angry beasts acting in accordance with their animal instincts, victims as well as perpetrators of terrifying violence, statues at once repulsive and sentimental.

Gorilla Carrying off a Woman won a gold medal when displayed in plaster at the 1887 Salon. An earlier version of the same subject, but with a female gorilla dragging off a cadaverous woman, caused a sensation at the 1859 Salon. According to one Fremiet biographer, “emotional workmen, mostly Belgian with childlike minds,” deliberately destroyed it when transporting it back to the artist’s studio. The sculptor cast three other bronzes like it; they are in the Menagerie of the Jardin des Plantes and in the museums of Nantes and Melbourne.

A slithering snake at the statue’s base is the only element in the overstated drama that might be construed as symbolic, since its association with evil is generally recognized. The hapless woman-attired only in a furry loincloth (very like the gorilla’s own coat), her hair adorned with a large gorilla jawbone with teeth intact, a decorative amulet, and another ornament primitively carved with a face-feebly tries to push her vengeful abductor away. In the sculpture’s original state, an arrow dangled conspicuously under the animal’s shoulder, but it has long been lost.

Fremiet’s considerable reputation arose from the anatomical accuracy of his works and his attention to archaeological details, his innovative techniques in rendering life-size animal groups, and his successful selling of copies and reproductions. Among his major works are the Wounded Dog in the Louvre, Faun Playing with Bear Cub in the Luxembourg, a gargantuan Elephant in the Trocadero, and the gilt-bronze Joan of Arc in the Place des Pyramides.

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Text from A Guide to Art at the University of Illinois: Urbana-Champaign, Robert Allerton Park, and Chicago by Muriel Scheinman. Copyright 1995 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Used with permission from the University of Illinois Press.

Yellow Trail

2.1 miles | 48 minutes | Starts from: Sunken Garden

This trail is excellent for hikers who want to see and walk through great examples of both upland oak-hickory forest and bottomland forest with large silver maple and sycamore trees. Starting at the Sunken Garden, you will first experience the upland forest. This area of open grown oaks and hickories is great for woodpeckers. Keep your eye out for red-headed woodpeckers and the huge pileated woodpecker. Deer, wild turkey and other wildlife have also been seen along this part of the trail.As you continue walking you will soon approach the Death of the Last Centaur statue. Walk down the concrete steps into a bottomland forest to continue on the Yellow trail.

Moving past the four white pillars and down the trail will lead you to the Sangamon River. Here the trail runs along the Sangamon and gives great views of the river, many opportunities for watchable wildlife, and a chance to experience large bottomland trees. The main trail continues along the river before heading back into the formal garden area through some coniferous trees and beside the Mansion’s Reflecting Pond.

Look for: large white trillium and bloodroot (spring); freshwater mussel shells (summer); colorful leaves (fall); migrating song birds (spring and fall); red-headed woodpeckers and pileated woodpeckers (winter)

There may be times of the year when the bottomland portion of this trail may be flooded. Please use caution.

There is one section of this trail that shares the path with the Brown Trail.

Want a shorter hike? The trail has a shortcut (noted with a dotted line on the map) that will lead you back to the Sunken Garden or the Meadow.

Brown Trail

2.6 miles | 1 hour | Starts from: Death of the Last Centaur parking area

The Brown Trail traverses through bottomland forest containing trees over five feet in diameter, along the Sangamon River and through a small section of upland forest. This hike offers a wonderful approach to the Centaur statue; be sure to also notice the four pillars topped with urns within the open oak-hickory forest. The trail then continues down a slope, along to a point of transition between an upland oak/hickory forest on one side and a bottomland forest on the other. Here spring flowers such as Virginia bluebells carpet the forest floor.

After passing the intersection with the Purple Trail, you may notice trees of great size and diameter. Ash, bur oaks and sycamores represent an assemblage of the impressively sized tree species, including the State Champion Swamp White Oak (53” in diameter and 93’ tall; just north of the trail section that runs along the river and about halfway between the Yellow/Brown and Purple/brown intersections). Views of the Sangamon River and the watchable wildlife are also plentiful as you continue along the trail.

Look for: Virginia bluebells, migrating song birds, and blue-eyed Marys (spring); great-blue herons, wood ducks, and beavers (summer); coyote and white-tailed deer (fall); brown creepers and white-breasted nuthatches (winter)

There may be times of the year when the bottomland portion of this trail may be flooded. Please use caution.

There is one section of this trail that shares the path with the Yellow Trail.