Recommended for anyone that has a little bit of time, and needs to stretch their legs, and has an…read moreinterest in history, This is a nice respite. Located in Dixon Illinois (Grand Detour), the John Deere home offers free admission and even a guided tour if your time it right. Checked their website for operating hours because it appears they can change. The guided tour takes a little over an hour so we had to step out because we could not spare that much time but they were very kind and recognizing that not everyone could stay for the full tour. Located inside a white picket fence is a little museum that has the timeline of John Deere's life, and an archaeological site that marks the origins of his blacksmith shop and basically the birthplace of international John Deere industry as we know it today. Additionally, his home, which was not open to the public when we were there, but you can peek in the windows, is also located on the property. A cute little gift shop with John Deere shirts, hats, etc. is available as well as some really cool items for sale that are fabricated from the blacksmith on site providing demonstrations.

Visited during the 75th Grand Detour Arts Festival. The art fair is one of the oldest in Illinois…read moreand had a nice selection of local artists. The John Deere historic sites has buildings to go in and tour. There was a blacksmith demonstration and several audio tours. If in the area, it is worth stopping by,

I stopped in due to the beauty of the outside of the building. Built in 1860, it is being renovated…read moreas a general store and HQ for the Lincoln Highway. The docent was super friendly.

If you're a fan of PBS, you've most likely seen Rick Sebak's quirky documentary "A Ride Along the…read moreLincoln Highway" about America's first coast-to-coast highway. While it's lesser known than the more popular Route 66, the Lincoln Highway really is a great drive and just as important historically as it's better known counterpart....and this is the place to learn all about it. While the actual "museum" only takes up about a quarter of the building, the proprietor Lyn is such an amazing person that she easily fills the entire space with her knowledge, funny stories, and giving heart. My wife and I felt like welcomed guests in someone's home, not like museum patrons. If you're ever in town, we highly recommend stopping in!

Located in a quiet community near downtown Dixon, Illinois, is Ronald Reagan's boyhood at home…read more A modest home in a modest neighborhood has off street parking for visitors, making access easy. A visitor center is located in a separate house from the original home. Informative Plex located throughout the ground along with a life-size statue makes for a nice visit and great opportunity stretch your legs before you get on the road again. Located about 10 minutes away from the John Deere historic site

Craig Hockenberry…read more Arrived in Dixon Illinois to tour the Boyhood home of President Ronald Reagan. The place is amazing and worth the stop! We learned so much about one of the greatest presidents of all times. The staff was amazing and the small town was perfect!

Pretty cool! Plenty…read moreof parking considering this place is WAY WAY off any beaten road. Love the building, the brick and stone look is in need of some work but, in good repair. Love the old steam locomotive and the 'jail' that was saved and maintained. Didn't get a chance to go inside because it was closed but, if the outside is any indication of what's in there, I'm sure it'll be good.

This is a local donations-only small budget museum in a former train depot. It looks like a layer…read morecake and they're particularly proud of the 8 chimneys. They're not open a lot and when they are you'll probably have the place to yourself. The bottom story includes exhibits on the old depot; there are also some personal effects of people who were connected with it. There is more information on Amboy and on the local industry, Sensient Flavors, on the second floor (Sensient gets a room to themselves). Kind of interesting. The gift shop has train-themed gifts; I picked up an engineer cap for the nephew.

My daughter had had her wedding here. It was wonderful as were the people who were there to help…read more Great place to visit. Big part of ILLINOIS history!!

I highly recommend stopping in for a tour of this magnificent structure. The cost is $5 per person…read more They often hold a "Free Day" so, you might not have to pay anything. The curator Erin is very kind, and knowledgeable. Most reviews on the place are contributed to TripAdvisor, but I felt the Yelp audience would like to know of a place they could visit on a rainy day. Or anytime! I believe the tours are Thursday - Saturday at designated time slots from around Noon to 3pm for a duration of an hour. Call ahead for more info and planning.

I am leaving this review so that others in the community can be informed. Sterling Park District…read morepresents themselves as a charity and community focussed organization as per the information on their web page here: https://www.sterlingparks.org/sterling-parks-foundation/. I recently returned to my hometown from abroad with my wife and son to stay a month with my mother who is a resident of the local community. As we are an active family and were planning to us the Westwood and Duis center facilities we elected to purchase a monthly total fitness pass for our household at $63.58 as per what is listed on page nine of the Sterling Park District's brochure, which can be found here: https://www.sterlingparks.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Fall2024_Guide.pdf. In the brochure the membership options are presented as annual and monthly memberships. Therefore, I went to the Westwood desk and told the attendant that I wished to purchase a monthly membership for my family. I was appalled when the attendant told me that I must 1. subscribe to the annual membership and cancel before I would leave (or I would be charged monthly until I told them I was going to cancel) and that essentially there was no option to simply purchase a monthly membership, which does not reflect how the information is presented in the brochure. 2. I was asked to write my credit information on a form that would go somewhere; I am assume in a filing cabinet somewhere, where someone else may be able to access it. Quite frankly, I was shocked. In the age of credit card theft that we live in, the fact that this organization does not respect one's right to privacy of their credit card information and requires an annual subscription, which they do not advertise, is not the organizational behavior one would expect from a charitable community organization. At the Westwood desk Apple Pay and Google Pay are available, and Apple pay does a pretty good job of protecting their customer's information. So why should one need to trust the park district with their credit card information and also allow them to charge customers beyond when they would be using their facilities (i.e. having to subscribe for a year when one would only wish to purchase a one month subscription.) This is unfair to customers and the community and the park district seriously needs to reconsider this policy. In addition, I brought my nine-year-old son, who is a competitive swimmer to the Duis center for lap swimming. My son swims all four strokes competitively and swims the 50 meter freestyle in about 45 seconds. I was going to swim next to him, and his mother was going to be watching from the pool deck. However, he was not allowed to swim during lap swim times, and we were told that anyone under 16 is not allowed to swim during lap swimming times at the Duis center. Again, this was not published anywhere in the Sterling Park District's brochure. We were told that this policy is in force because there is no life gaurd on duty during lap swim time. This leads me to ask two questions: 1. Don't lap swimmers also need a life guard? What happens if they get in trouble? and 2. Aren't there also children in the community under 16 who would want to be able to comfortably lap swim during lap swim times rather than fighting the public for use of a lane during the open swim times (This is the only time that we were told that my son could use the pool.)? Is the life guard then supposed to tell these children who want to swim to be fit that they cannot lap swim during open swim times? Must a child under 16 (whose family has paid to join the pool) be made to join a swim team to be able to swim for fitness? Again, the Duis center and the park district need to seriously reconsider some of their UNBPUBLISHED policies and what the community and their customers' social and fitness needs are. Unfortunately, there are few alternatives in this community where one can go for swimming, and the weight lifting facilities at Westwood are world class. I would hope that the community oriented organization that is the Sterling Park District could also rise to the level of their facilities in the design and administration of their policies.

Great independent book store and cafe I luckily came across while passing through downtown Dixon…read more Friendly staff and a nice selection of books to go with the good coffee. Would happily stop in again.

Nice bookstore. You'll probably find something perusing the aisles. I found a haunted book about…read morehaunted places in Aurora!