by Christopher Borelli
Chicago Tribune
In pioneer cemeteries, a disappearing part of Illinois' landscape lives on.
Pellsville cemetery, which holds 44 pioneers and contains more than 80 native flowers and grasses, is largely untouched prairie, at its dazzling peak in midsummer. It is considered, by the Illinois Natural Areas Inventory and Illinois Department of Natural Resources, "Grade-A" prairie, or "virgin" prairie. It has never been plowed, grazed or uprooted. It is as close as we get to what Illinois looked like before European pioneers rolled in, around the 1820s.
See more of the Chicago Tribune column and watch the video here: https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/columnists/ct-ent-pioneer-cemeteries-0806-20170803-column.html