My first time camping in Southern Illinois. This trip included camping at South Marcum – Corp of Engineers campground at Rend Lake, a visit to the Little Grand Canyon, the Bald Knob Cross of Peace, the Stone Face trail, the Observation Trail at Garden of the gods, Cave-in-Rock park on the Ohio River and a trip to the original family homestead in Paducah.
My first time camping in Southern Illinois. This trip included camping at South Marcum – Corp of Engineers campground at Rend Lake, a visit to the Little Grand Canyon, the Bald Knob Cross of Peace, the Stone Face trail, the Observation Trail at Garden of the gods, Cave-in-Rock park on the Ohio River and a trip to the original family homestead in Paducah.
Massac County, Illinois
The Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his soldiers may have built a fort nearby as early as 1540. Maps from the early 18th century show an “Ancien Fort” (“Old Fort”) near this location.
The reconstructed Fort Massac facing the Ohio River shoreline in 2010
Fort Massac was built by the French in 1757, during the French and Indian War and was originally called “Fort de L’Ascension”. The name was changed in 1759, to honor of Claud Louis d’Espinchal, Marquis de Massiac, the French Naval Minister. Massiac is a French town in the Cantal department.
The French left the fort at the conclusion of the war, and it was destroyed by the Chickasaw sometime after 1763. In 1778, during the American Revolutionary War, Colonel George Rogers Clark led his regiment of “Long Knives” into Illinois near the site of the fort at Massac Creek.[a] The fort was rebuilt in 1794, during the Northwest Indian War.
My first time camping in Southern Illinois. This trip included camping at South Marcum – Corp of Engineers campground at Rend Lake, a visit to the Little Grand Canyon, the Bald Knob Cross of Peace, the Stone Face trail, the Observation Trail at Garden of the gods, Cave-in-Rock park on the Ohio River and a trip to the original family homestead in Paducah.
We had a young buck visit the homestead around dusk. Good lookin’ boy!
“We’re about John Wayne, Johnny Cash and John Deere.”
The Gateway Arch is a 630-foot-tall (192 m) monument in St. Louis, Missouri. Clad in stainless steel and built in the form of a weighted catenary arch, it is the world’s tallest arch and Missouri’s tallest accessible building. Some sources consider it the tallest human-made monument in the Western Hemisphere. Built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States and officially dedicated to “the American people”, the Arch, commonly referred to as “The Gateway to the West”, is a National Historic Landmark in Gateway Arch Nation Park and has become an internationally recognized symbol of St. Louis, as well as a popular tourist destination. From Wikipedia
St Louis, Missouri
The Eads Bridge is a combined road and rail bridge over the Mississippi River connecting the cities of St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois. It is located on the St. Louis riverfront between Laclede’s Landing to the north, and the grounds of the Gateway Arch to the south. The bridge is named for its designer and builder, James Buchanan Eads. Work on the bridge began in 1867, and it was completed in 1874. The Eads Bridge was the first bridge across the Mississippi south of the Missouri River. Earlier bridges were located north of the Missouri, where the Mississippi is narrower. None of the earlier bridges survived, which means that the Eads Bridge is also the oldest bridge on the river.
Eads designed and built the first road and rail bridge to cross the Mississippi River at St. Louis. The Eads Bridge, constructed from 1867 through 1874, was the first bridge of a significant size with steel as its primary material, and it was the longest arch bridge in the world when completed.
Had a Sunday morning to spend at Lone Elk Park in St. Louis County. Beautiful morning to spend with the animals.