Parking
Start at the paved Bailly-Chellberg Lot (main), north of U.S. Highway 20 on Mineral Springs Road. Year-round restrooms and potable water are available at the lot. A park pass is required.
Overview
About Bailly Cemetery Trail
Why go
- The route ends at a distinct historic cemetery within the Bailly Homestead landscape.
- Restrooms and potable water are available at the starting lot.
Heads up
- There is no separate public parking at the cemetery; the complete walk from the main lot is longer than the cemetery spur alone.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Indiana Dunes map
Full mapElevation629–688 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
4 active Indiana Dunes alerts
- ClosurePortage Lakefront trail section closedThe section of the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk Trail along Burns Waterway is closed because erosional damage has made it unsafe.Official details
- ClosureTrail closures, storm damage, and floodingMultiple trails have closures or access limits from Marquette Greenway construction, storm damage, riverbank collapse, and flooding; check conditions and obey posted closures.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Indiana Dunes Tour Guide
Your drive to Bailly Cemetery Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Indiana Dunes National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Indiana Dunes audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
Bailly–Chellberg: Houses with a History0:00 / 0:35
“You're coming up on the Bailly–Chellberg historic area, where a short walk connects a Swedish-American farm and a fur-trading homestead.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Indiana Dunes Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
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- Greenbelt: The South Route to the Beach
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- 51 audio storiesacross Indiana Dunes’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Bald Eagle, Sandhill Crane, White-tailed Deer, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 34 trails, 30 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Bailly Cemetery Trail
The full hikeBailly Cemetery Trail is about 1.
Bailly Cemetery Trail is about 1.7 miles round trip from the Bailly-Chellberg main lot, following connected trails to the family cemetery and returning the same way. The park’s 0.6-mile round-trip figure describes the cemetery spur from a junction; the longer total here includes the walk from the lot to that junction. Plan on about an hour, with a little extra time to look around the cemetery. This is a short historic walk, not a strenuous day hike.
UnderfootThe approach follows the Bailly/Chellberg trail network through woods.
The approach follows the Bailly/Chellberg trail network through woods. The park describes the surface as packed soil, with wood chips in places, changes in elevation, and several sets of stairs. It can be very wet and muddy, and the final cemetery access climbs a short flight of steps. The cemetery spur sits north of Oak Hill Road; follow the mapped trail through the junction rather than looking for a separate cemetery parking area.
The cemetery and its historyThe Bailly family cemetery and nearby homestead form part of a National Historic Landmark.
The Bailly family cemetery and nearby homestead form part of a National Historic Landmark. The Baillys arrived around 1824 and established a trading post along the Little Calumet River near two Indigenous trails. The homestead later served land speculation and innkeeping, and stood along an early stagecoach route between Detroit and Fort Dearborn.
Joseph Bailly’s story is also tied to treaty negotiations that forced Potawatomi from their lands; the 1838 removal became known as the Trail of Death. The site’s history is contested and should not be reduced to a pioneer story.
Starting point and rulesStart at the paved Bailly-Chellberg Lot (main), north of U.S.
Start at the paved Bailly-Chellberg Lot (main), north of U.S. Highway 20 on Mineral Springs Road. The lot has year-round restrooms, potable water, and covered picnic shelters. A park pass is required. Dogs are allowed on a leash no longer than six feet.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Indiana Dunes
85 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
48 sightingsSandhill CraneMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
114 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
23 sightingsCoyoteMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
49 sightingsBeaverMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
13 sightingsBarred OwlMost seen around 6 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Indiana Dunes. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
