Through our brilliant events and festivals, you’ll experience the vibrance of the Champaign-Urbana area! Discover something new every day!
Note: Fundraisers, sales, meetings related to membership-based groups, political events, and events outside of our coverage area are not included on the calendar.
The Big Grove Then and Now
Urbana Free Library
210 West Green Street
Urbana, Illinois 61801
(217) 367-4057
Category
Hours
View Website
You may have heard of the Big Grove Tavern in Champaign, but have you ever wondered just what exactly the Big Grove was? Where was it? Who, if anyone, lived there? Are there any surviving trees? Are there public forests in Champaign County where you can see and touch ancient Big Grove trees? Professor Emeritus Stewart Berlocher will answer these questions and show how we can measure the age of a forest and understand ecological history more broadly.
About Stewart Berlocher: He joined the Entomology Department at the U of I Urbana-Champaign as an Assistant Professor in 1976 and retired as Professor Emeritus in 2020. In the intervening 44 years, he taught a wide variety of classes in entomology, genetics, evolution, and ecology. A special treat was teaching in the Biology Honors program, which conducts intensive fieldwork in both a surviving Big Grove remnant and diverse locations in Southern Illinois.