FERNE CLYFFE STATE PARK CELEBRATION

By Dixie Terry     

The 75th anniversary of Ferne Clyffe State Park will be celebrated on Saturday, September 21, with a number of activities for the public.     

There will be guided hikes taking place at 8:30 and 9:30 am and at 1:30 and 2:30 pm.     

A free kids’ fishing event will be held, along with climbing events that will be will be underway. A ceremony, with guest speakers, will be held at 11 am. There will be food available to purchase, courtesy of the Goreville High Beta Club.     

The 75th Anniversary Commemorative Coins will also be available to  purchase, for a special souvenir.     Families are encouraged to join the fun to celebrate this special anniversary event.  A rain date has been set for October 5.     

The nucleus of Ferne Clyffe was once the home of the Rebman family, whose daughter, Emma Rebman, would later sell the property to the State of Illinois, with the stipulation that it be made into a state park, open to one and all.     

Emma Rebman was born in 1864, to Frederick Augustus  and Louisa Benson Rebman.  She was a teacher in country schools and the first woman to serve as the Johnson County Superintendant of Schools, during 1911-1919.  She taught for a few years in Arizona, when she took her brother there, for health reasons.     

Due to her perservence and determination, in 1914, the county was presented a large Old Glory flag, as a prize for the best school attendance  record  in the state.     

When she wasn’t serving as an educator, Miss Rebman spent hours at her typewriter exchanging ideas with experts, both in education and conservation, her other love.     

The family home set near the bottom of the winding road near a steep bluff that separated the Rebman property from the Villsge of Goreville.     

The one hundred and twenty acres that surrrounded the Rebman property was early called Rebman Park by Miss Rebman.  On occasion she invited the public to share the trails, caves, waterfall and creeks.  In later years, she would name the property Ferne Clyffe, using the Old English spelling, a reflection of her interest in literature.      

On weekends, excursion trains would arrive from Marion on the C & E I Railroad, to Goreville.  The passengers would be met at the depot by carts and wagons, pulled by horses, from the local livery stables and transported to the park.     

Local residents descended the dirt road by horseback, wagons, or on foot, each Sunday, brining filled picnic dinners to share.     

Miss Rebman was a conservationist, much ahead of her time, in many areas, but chose to share her property.     

Hera admiration for the American Indian lore is apparent even today, as visitors to the park explore  Apache and Cherokee Trails, Little  Cheyenne Gorge,  and eight springs named Pocahontas, Tecumseh, Powhatan, Mohawk, Hiawatha, Black Hawk, Geronimo, and Pontiac.     

Mohawk Spring provided water for the Rebman household and many buckets were carried by hired hands, up the steep steps to the home. 

The water was tested often and always received a 99% pure rating.     

Hawk’s Cave is a sheer cliff of stone, hewn by centuries of water and wind and boasts an excavation one hundred and fifty feet long and is also that high.  The cave, with a natural stone pulpit and excellent acoustics, was often used for Easter sunrise services and other religious events.     

A very devout Methodist, Miss Rebman organized  evangelistic meetings in her park for many summers.  Seats were made of rough sawed timber,  setting across tree stumps.  a pump organ or a piano  would sometimes be hauled dorn the steep winfing road by horse and wagon, and in later years, by truck.     Although she was strait-laced, Miss Rebman enjoyed seeing folks  have a good time, so every 4th of July, Rebman Park was the setting of a patriotic extravaganza.     

Huge pits were dug for barbecuing whole hogs and young calves, with food plentiful for all those who arrived, also binging food.  While many arrived the night before and set up camps, many more came down the next day.     

Bands were brought over from Paducah to provide music and the musicians camped out on Miss Rebman’s front porch.     

On one Independence Day, in the 1920s, over 1200 people showed up , each paying ten cents to enjoy the day.

     In 1923, Rebman Park was designated as “The Most Beautiful Spot in Illinois,” but by whom, no one seems to remember.

     Ferne Clyffe goes back in history to pre-historic times, but how far is not recorded.  

     Native Americans made it their home, using the area as their Winter hunting grounds.  Buffalo Gap, where herds of the huge animals once roamed, is only a mile or so from the present park property.

     The last Indians to make use of the property, were the Cherokee, who in 1838-39,  were moved by the U.S. Government, from North Csrolina to Oklahoma, known as “The Trail of Tears.”  Ferne Clyffe was the farthest north the Cherokeee were allowed to travel for hunting..

     Hundreds of Indian relics have been removed from the park, before the practice was banned by law.  

     In the summer of 1778, George Rogers Clark and his “Kentucky Long Knives” camped near the park, enroute from Fort Massac to Kaskaskia, in his quest of Illinois country.

     In 1928, a celebration was held to pay homage to the one hundred and fifty years since Clark and his party passed through the area. At that time, an airplane landed near the park, carrying Dave Thompson, editor of the Chicago-based “Prairie Farmer” magazine, who spoke at the celebration.

     From the July, 1928 publication of the “Prairie Farmer” came these words:  “This paek is one of the true beauty spots of Illinois and  is worth going a long way to see.  Rocks and springs and waterfalls and a great amphitheatre, large enough to hold a political convention, make it a spot that you will long remember.  Someday, Ferne Clyffe will be a state park and a hard road connecting it with Marion, will make it more accessible.”

      Mr. Thompson’s prediction came true, when a “two-lane hard road” was built in 1937, connecting many Southern Illinois towns on its north/south path.

     In 1949, the state began to acquire this unspoiled property, with its bluffs, covered with wild ferns and lichen, surrounded by flora and fauna with many species found only in this area, a virtual natural paradise of wild plants. flowers and trees.

     Miss Rebman graciously agreed to sell her land, and since then, other surrounding properties have been acquired by the state,including Round Bluff, Happy Hollow, Draper’s Bluff and Cedar Bluff, for a total of 2,430 acres.

     In 1960, an 18-acre fishing lake was completed offering bank fishing for large-mouth bass, bluegill, and rainbow trout, open to the public.

     The park’s central valley, surrounded by a radiation of gorges, dells and canyons, cascades and hills, with natural cathedrals, domes, brooks and cascades,, where sweet gum, honey locust, persimmon, tulip and black gum trees grow profusely.  One species, becoming rare, are the beech trees, growing tall.

     In the fall, a riot of colors is presented in the park, as the gum, maple, dogwood, and sumac change their colors, joined by the more somber tones of the oak, hickory, ash and other hard woods.

     Although Miss Rebman departed from this earth in 1951, at the age of 87, her legacy will endure as long as Ferne Clyffe exists.

     A plaque has been dedicated to Miss Rebman and placed in the park, near her old home , which was demolished in the early 1950s.  It proclaims:  “Dedicated to the memory of Emma Rebman, teacher and conservationist, who owned and lived on 120 acres of this park and preserved its natural beauty.”

     Emma Rebman remains a legend in the Goreville community and it is hoped that her spirit will join the September 21 celebration of Ferne Clyffe being a state park of Illinois.