Five tiny state parks reveal ancient fossils, Lincoln ties and colonial history

Five overlooked state parks offer distinctive experiences despite their small size. Channahon State Park in Illinois sits where the DuPage and Des Plaines rivers meet the historic Illinois and Michigan Canal, creating a compact riverside destination. Falls of the Ohio State Park in Indiana features one of the world’s largest exposed Devonian fossil beds, visible when river levels fall. Kentucky’s Lincoln Homestead State Park preserves sites tied to Abraham Lincoln’s paternal family, including the meeting place of his parents, while Missouri’s Morris State Park protects part of the ecologically and geologically significant Crowley’s Ridge. In Boston, Roxbury Heritage State Park highlights the city neighborhood’s colonial history, including John Eliot Square and the centuries-old First Church in Roxbury.