LINCOLN PARK — The Lincoln Park Conservancy and the Park District are seeking docents for a couple of their top attractions near the zoo.
The groups have set a March 31 deadline for people to apply for the volunteer positions to act as guides at the Lincoln Park Conservatory, 2391 N. Stockton Drive, and the Caldwell Lily Pool at the north end of the zoo.
Docents will be trained over six straight Saturdays starting April 8.
A Park District property, the conservatory was built in 1894 as a Victorian-style glass palace overlooking the French garden to the south and the British garden across Stockton (now home of the Shakespeare statue).
The lily pool was originally part of a Victorian garden, but was redesigned by Alfred Caldwell in the Depression era to give it more of a Prairie School look, including its ties to Japanese art and architecture.
Formed in 1984 to defend and advocate for public space in Lincoln Park, the conservancy "adopted" the lily pool in 1997 and led its $2.4 million renovation. It's a National Historic Landmark and a Chicago landmark. "The AIA Guide to Chicago" calls it "one of the loveliest pockets of nature in the city."
The conservancy also tends to the North Pond Nature Sanctuary and the Lincoln Monument & Gardens at the south end of Lincoln Park near North Avenue.
