"Nice drive out of town through big open fields, sprinkled between farmhouses and ranch homes. There’s a small cemetery due north of Cotton Hill. Despite not witnessing a single ‘trespassers will be shot on sight’ signs, the area kinda gave off that vibe. There were however a handful of ‘no trespassing’ signs. Lots of Chiefs, Cardinals and Gadsden flags in these parts, too. Hypervigilance was high, expectations were low. God bless the Midwest. " — Katamount • Oct 12, 2023

"Cotton Hill is a high point in the middle of a (corn)field at the northwest corner of S. Vigil Road and Siliskie Road. It's southeast of Illinois' state capitol of Springfield. I decided to look it up and walk to the top of it. On this section is Vigil Cemetery and the banks of Horse Creek meandering from its origins south of Pawnee. To the west at the edge of the lake is one of the lakeside parks, Cotton Hill Park. Further on to the north is Lincoln Memorial Gardens. There are hints of the oldest road in these parts known as the Edwards Trace - a trail that followed the closest thing to a ridge in central Illinois from Cahokia & Kaskaskia through Elkhart and on to Peoria. North of this section are the Morgan Horse breeders: today's Ashley Oaks Morgans at Highview Farm and the Brunk Farm where the stone house stands in ruins and the barn is the only recognizable building now. Joseph Brunk began breeding the Brunk lineage of Morgan Horses at his Cotton Hill Farm in 1893 [there is a museum nearby]. " — Mermaid • Oct 2, 2013