A quarter mile walk through the winter woods at the Sand Ridge Nature Center now tells the story of thousands of freedom seekers on their way toward a new home, toward something better. For Black History Month, the southern Cook County Forest Preserve has a series of 24 signs along a walking trail, noting some local stops and supports for formerly enslaved people who walked through the area heading toward Detroit and, ultimately, Canada. Between 3,000 to 4,500 men, women and children might have walked through the area, around the lake and up through Indiana into Michigan, according to the research website, illinoisundergroundrailroad.info. Even in the North, these people, formerly enslaved, were not necessarily free, even if slavery was outlawed. Slave catchers could capture them, kidnap them and drag them back South. The route to freedom took them right through the forest preserve area and the signs on the trail note nearby churches and families that helped freedom seekers along the way. Credell Walls, the director of the nature center, along with two volunteers spent the morning Feb. 1 posting the signs. He said he hopes visitors to the come away both with a sense of history but also a sense of nature — what life was like for these people as they walked through the woods and the prairie. “Illinois does have a role in freedom seekers and the underground railroad passed through here,” he said. Walls said they would have relied on the natural world to feed and protect them, and he hopes visitors take that all in. “We want people to know more about the environment, to show respect for themselves and for nature,” he said. Walls said the signs are part of an annual tradition, though this year they’re wooden as opposed to laminated paper signs. The new signs came courtesy Jeff Christiansen and Marlee Christiansen, who volunteer with Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots program, a worldwide youth organization that emphasizes local volunteering and the outdoors. Jeff and Marlee Christiansen work Feb. 1 with Cook County Forest Preserve District employee Credel Walls, erecting signs for a self-guided tour. Feb. 1, 2026, South Holland. (Jesse Wright/for the Daily Southtown) Besides that program, Marlee said she’s gone to the Museum of Science and Industry camp since she was in fourth grade — she’s now in high school — and got good with laser cutting and photo printing and manufacturing. “We thought this was a good time to highlight how people care about other people,” she said. Walls said they also relied on help from two other volunteers, Patrick McCarthy and Manny Juarez, who weren’t on hand to erect the displays. Nevertheless, on a clear if cold day the three walked through several inches of snow, screwing in the new signs. Walls reflected on the freedom seekers then and those who helped along the way. He noted the dozen or so known residences and churches nearby that helped the Southern refugees and compared all of that to the current situation in Minneapolis and Chicago, where U.S. citizens work to help undocumented people, often in the face of danger and state oppression. For Black History Month, the Sand Ridge Nature Center offers a self-guided tour on Underground Railroad history. Feb. 1, 2026, South Holland. (Jesse Wright/for the Daily Southtown) “There is strength in numbers,” Walls said. “I think the difference between what happened then and what’s happening how is back then you helped out in private but now in this current situation everyone is making noise.” Jeff Christiansen agreed there is strength in numbers and the more people who act up now and stand up against injustice can make a difference. “It’s the sheer number of people involved and its people doing little things every day,” he said. “There are a lot of people taking a lot of personal risk.” Christiansen said the local historic precedence of antebellum community activism should help inspire people today. “How crazy was it that this happened here,” he said. “How did this happen? These were people who decided to take a stand because they didn’t like what was happening and they knew it was morally wrong.” The display will remain for the rest of Black History Month. Visitors can take a self-guided tour any day and the last two Saturdays in February will include programs for visitors. The center will offer “If Walls Could Talk: Stories of the Underground Railroad” part one and part two, beginning at 11 a.m. on Feb. 21. It will offer “Local Stories of the Underground Railroad” at 1 p.m. on Feb.28. Registration is required for both programs. Sand Ridge Nature Center is at 15891 Paxton Ave., South Holland. Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown. ...read more read less