North Pond Nature Sanctuary

North Pond Nature Sanctuary is a 15-acre natural area around North Pond in lakefront Lincoln Park, between Fullerton and Diversey parkways and between Stockton and Cannon drives. The Lincoln Park Conservancy maintains it, and the North Pond restaurant stands on its shore.

What it’s known for

Before 1999 the site was a bluegrass lawn with lilac bushes around an ornamental pond. That year the Chicago Park District and the Lincoln Park Conservancy rehabilitated it as a nature sanctuary, and the Conservancy has managed it since. A $7.3 million restoration from 2019 to 2022 dredged the pond, regraded and replanted the shoreline, added a liner to reduce water loss, and installed new paths, benches and lighting. Its first phase was the Sunshine Playscape, a nature playground next to the pond, built in 2019. Final plantings in 2023 added nearly 70 trees and hundreds of native plants.

The Conservancy says the sanctuary’s 150-plus plant species draw more than 220 bird species, along with small mammals, reptiles, amphibians and insects. It runs EcoSteward volunteer workdays here, and on Friday afternoons its ecologist leads paid nature walks from the North Pond gazebo at 2535 N. Stockton Dr. These walks sometimes cover the nearby Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool as well.

Good to know

• Hours: Daily 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., per the Lincoln Park Conservancy, October 2026.
• Dogs and bikes: Neither is allowed on the shoreline nature trails. Dogs elsewhere must be leashed and kept out of the water.
• Rules: No swimming, boating or fishing. The fly-casting pier is not for fishing.
• Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible except some mulched shoreline paths and the fly-casting pier.
• Nature walks: $20, Fridays 2 to 3:30 p.m., per the Conservancy calendar, October 2026.

See the Lincoln Park parks and lakefront guide.

Sources: lincolnparkconservancy.org/projects/north-ponds-restoration, lincolnparkconservancy.org/events, chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks-facilities/lincoln-abraham-park