Fabyan Forest Preserve

Jagan Gnanasambandam

A very scenic place for a hike or a bike ride alongside the river. There is a old historic windmill, the Fabyan Villa and the Japanese garden. There are two bridges that connect to a small island in the middle of the river. Fishing is also allowed, as long as you stay in the designated area. Lot of parking spaces available, never had to look for parking so far. There are many species of birds like ducks, geese, swallows, hawks, cardinals, canaries and many other.

Dana Key

Very interesting and informative tour about the Fabian family and his property ( especially I wanted to mention Vivian- she was great 👍) Very pretty 🦋 japanese garden

Mike Rowlett

A beautiful park, and an interesting piece of local history. At times, a bit crowded on the east side of the river

sugandha agarwal

This is a good outing on Sundays. This is large area which has the Fox River flowing through and there are multiple shelters, picnic areas, parking lots and rest rooms. The rest rooms are dry ones, so can be a bit unusual to use them. The vast expanse of the grounds and the villas were owned by George Fabyan and a portion of these were acquired by the park district. They have a villa tour which is quite informative and takes you through the life of the Fabyans. The contribution of George Fabyan to cryptography and his collection of strange Japanese items and the false mummy are an interesting side bar to the lovely park and picnic area. There is a windmill too that you can visit and explore inside, the kids were excited to imagine the process of milling using wind energy. There are volunteers who act as staff for those tours of the windmill, villas and the Japanese gardens. We enjoyed a full day here, the tours are 1pm-4pm so good to get there around 11 am and leave by 4 pm. Carry your food and drink and you can make it a family outing.