All I have to say about Rockome Gardens is that it is toast. In order to keep it together, you would have to win ALL four auctions as top bidder. That will probably not happen. Also, few would be advised to get into a bidding war with some of the Amish families in Douglas/Moultrie Co. as they are generally well-funded.

I have driven past there a few times but haven't paid admission and actually gone in since the late '80s. It is not all that unique - except that it still exists. We went to a similar one a few years ago in Oregon.

What surprises me - and leads me to question whether it is truly a retirement sale - is the timing. I get the Douglas/Moultry weekly paper each week and the sale was announced in the first edition of the new year. If you had this attraction in the family since 1958, wouldn't you keep it open for one last summer looking to milk a few extra dollars out of those people who would want to see it "one last time"?

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

Some years ago when returning from a weekend in Iowa we visited Bishop Hill, an experiment in Utopian life by Swedish immigrants in the late 1840's.

Yesterday, I saw a dialogue which has additional places to see and food to eat in largely unexplored northwest Illinois.

I grew up about two miles from Bishop Hill. It was a religious commune in the 1840's until the commune leader was caught embezzling the coffers, tried and murdered during the trial (by an angry son-in-law, who stuck a gun in an open window of the courtroom and pulled the trigger and ran) in the nearby, architecturally significant Henry County Courthouse in Cambridge. Don't expect a tour guide in Bishop Hill to talk about that, however; they are very sensitive about that. I grew up there and didn't find out until I was researching an article about the town when I was in college.

There are two pretty good restaurants there: The Red Oak and PL Johnson's. I prefer Johnson's (get the pork dinner), altho Red Oak features pie that is honest-to-God made by the Swedish ladies in town. In nearby Kewanee, the closest "big town," there really is only one good restaurant: T'Quilla's, which everyone says is upscale Mexican (but the owner is the daughter of a former vp of Bolivia). Skip the Tex-Mex stuff and go right to the specials, especially if it's fish or seafood. Last time I was there, I had grilled salmon in lobster cream sauce that I'm still dreaming about. Order the cajeta for dessert. Not crazy about the flan.

There reportedly is a new Mexican restaurant in Kewanee, a taqueria actually, called Sombrero's, and the owner and cook is supposed to be from Mexico, preparing authentic dishes. It was closed last time I was in town, so I didn't get to try it.

bob kopczynski wrote:I have one, i have one!!

In the Galewood section of chicago, on a northeast corner that I think is probably Sayre & Bloomingdale is a house officially called The Miracle House. As kids in the hood we always called it the Spider House because of its exposed steel exo skeletal structural supports. The official name came because everyone thought the only thing holding it up was a miracle.
...

Sayre school is at the northeast corner of Bloomingdale and Sayre. I think the house is at Nordica and Armitage, just a few blocks west of the school.

Volo, which was a car company before the consolidation of the auto industry, also has a presence in the Quad Cities.

On another note, I mourn the loss of the actual headquarters of the Amalgamated Meatcutters and Butcher Workmen of America at Sheridan and the Lake. The bronze statue (which is spectacular) remains, but seems meaningless without the building title providing context.

It was worth not being able to purchase meat in grocery stores through the 1970s in Chicago except 9-5, M-F, or what had been packaged up before then. You had to find a local butcher, not a bad thing.

Rockhome Gardens will reopen on May 7th, 2005 under the same management. Efforts to sell the attraction, whether by private offering or by auction, have been unsuccessful. The restaurant will be opening as soon as they get a staff hired.

Donley's Wild West in Union, IL McHenry Co,) has been up for sale for years but they too, have been unable to find a buyer (at the price they want).

Jlawrence!

Thanks for the update! I will just have to visit Rockome this summer.

I've always gone to the Railroad Museum in Union. I've never done the Wild West but it is now on my list of things to do this summer.

Thanks!

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:
I've never done the Wild West but it is now on my list of things to do this summer.

Regards,

It is pretty much of a yawner. We held our company picnic there a couple of years and it is interesting for little kids. But for those of use who have travelled over the western states ...

I have a limited knowledge of food down in this area of Illinois, but a somewhat interested notion in the non-grape wines available down in the Shawnee.

http://www.shawneewinetrail.com/intro.htm

I had a great time tasting and chatting with the proprietor at the Pomono Winery. A very generous tasting, thank you very much....Good luck trying to find Pomona, IL, some in the area consider it the "holler." The Apple Chardonnay was quite tasty...

http://www.shawneewinetrail.com/pomona.htm

Anyway, most don't realize there are cypress and tupelo swamps and rock formations such as this that exist in Illinois:

Food Nut wrote:I have a limited knowledge of food down in this area of Illinois, but a somewhat interested notion in the non-grape wines available down in the Shawnee.

http://www.shawneewinetrail.com/intro.htm

I had a great time tasting and chatting with the proprietor at the Pomono Winery. A very generous tasting, thank you very much....Good luck trying to find Pomona, IL, some in the area consider it the "holler." The Apple Chardonnay was quite tasty...

http://www.shawneewinetrail.com/pomona.htm

Anyway, most don't realize rock formations such as this exist in Illinois:

In progress...

About a month ago, we visited our son, a student at SIU. He took us around to the wineries (and climbing on the rocks, which I didn't really need to do...). I agree with you: the Pomona wines are lovely -- dry and surprisingly not at all the cloying, sugary, apple juice taste that I expected. We were quite pleasantly surprised and purchased the Jonathan, Jonathan Oak Aged Reserve, Golden and Golden Oak Aged Reserve. The owner is, as you said, very generous with the tastings, very friendly and knowledgeable. We had a nice time there.

Very different from our experience at the Von Jakob winery. That stuff was undrinkable. The utter lack of ambience and a less-than-knowledgeable pourer who couldn't get off the telephone didn't help. Their brochures and ads say they serve lunch, but we found that not to be true; the only food was some oyster crackers in a bowl (left out from the day before, we were informed), unless of course you'd like to buy some boxed crackers from them. It's difficult to find, but just don't bother.

As for food in the area, well, not a lot to pick from. El Bajio is pretty authentic, tasty, homemade Mexican food in Carbondale; and for a very good steak dinner, try The Hideout Steakhouse in Marion. Everyone raves about Larry's Pit BBQ in Carbondale, but our son is allergic to certain spices, so we can't go to BBQ joints when he's with us. Maybe next time.

Pomona Winery
2865 Hickory Ridge Road
Pomona, IL 62975
618/893-2623

Larry's Pit BBQ
1181 Rendleman Rd.
Carbondale, IL 62901
618/549-1599

The Hideout Steakhouse
2606 W Main St,
Marion, IL 62959 -
(618) 997-8325

El Bajio
1010 E. Main St.
Carbondale, IL 62901
(618) 529-1648

I've eaten at this lodge a few times and it's near Carbondale. It's a beautiful park that has a great lodge. The Chicken dinner is good especially after days of camp food. I thought they served chicken all the time, though, not just on Sunday as stated on the site.

GIANT CITY LODGE
460 GIANT CITY LODGE ROAD
MAKANDA, IL 62958
618/457-4921

http://dnr.state.il.us/Lodges/gc.htm

"On Sunday from 11:30 am to 4:00 pm the dining room only serves the family style fried chicken dinner. On weekends, reservations are recommended. Menu prices are moderate. Reservations for all other days are accepted for parties of 10 or more."

I had an extended stay in the area for work a few years back. You can do much better than Larry's and the Hideout for BBQ and steak.

17th Street Bar & Grill in Murphysboro is deservedly legendary. It's the original from Mike Mills of Memphis Championship BBQ (Las Vegas), Memphis in May cue championships, and Blue Smoke/NYC muse fame. Probably the single best place to eat down there. A new branch opened in Marion, but the original is closer to campus. Tony's in Marion is an old-fashioned steak place that gets its meat from Chicago. Doesn't look like much from the outside, but it's better than the Hideout. My favorite steak place, the excellent roadhouse Farris, is RIP. Pulley's in Marion is nice cracker BBQ. Go for the cheap chopped pork sandwiches and homemade pies.

The ethnic stuff is hit or miss, but the Chinese restaurant Hunan was surprisingly good.

http://www.hunaninc.com/

Carbondale has an excellent liquor store downtown (I'm blanking on the name) and a fine tobacconist (Yesteryear). Both places have things that get snatched up here quickly, and at low prices. Pinch Penny Pub is a great college bar with kids and profs.

The Museum of Surgical Science is really fun.

http://www.imss.org/

I toured the Elks Memorial once (I live down the street) and it was pretty spectacular. And empty.

Random notes on fun places in Illinois (and nearby) -

First off, Food Nut, I agree that Shawnee is amazing. The cliffs, the forests, and the swamps are not at all what one thinks of as Illinois. As are the (almost abandoned) old river towns near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi, a bit further east, and the various towns up the river. Dickson (no relation) and Cahokia Mounds are also quite impressive, though Dickson lost a lot of its interest when they closed up the previously open grave site, out of respect. Yes, it was the right thing to do, but it did detract from the interest. Now there is just some goofy multimedia show.

Cahokia, on the other hand is impressive in a sort of zen way - this giant city represented by mounds and bumps with a local highway running through the middle and surrounded by junkyards (I exaggerate very slightly). All this leaves one with the impression that not only was Illinois not a forsaken wilderness "discovered" by the Europeans, it was a major center of a very old, quite advanced culture back when the Celts were worshiping trees (no disrespect meant, just suggesting that the Europeans did not bring civilization to our fair state).

When the kids were maybe 10 & 12 we took a three week drive around Illinois, and it was great fun. I recommend this to one and all. The Bride acquired a guidebook of weird sites in Illinois (not sure of the name, and she is unavailable at the moment) places we visited included:

- Two story outhouse. Really. The top was slightly offset to give a straight drop.
- Elephant grave. Some circus elephant died in a little town in southwest Illinois and was buried, along with a statue
- Comic book heros: both Popeye and Superman hail from Illinois, don't they? At least their authors lived here, and the towns include statues of these heros of my youth.
- Kaskaskia - okay really not Kaskaskia, our first state capitol, because the Mississippi consumed that a long time ago, before the Army Corps set about taming the river (with limited success, but boundless energy). But there is a reproduction of Pierre Menard's home in a little grove on some bottomland behind a levee.
- A short drive, a ferry ride, and another drive across the Mississippi lies Ste. Genevieve, an amazingly preserved French Trapper town, also from the dawn of time. Flooded repeatedly over the years, it keeps coming back. And it is good to see more original versions of the Menard home, for comparison.
- If you like old river towns like Joliet (which I do) Alton, Grafton, And Quincy are sort of cool. Basically early industrial towns. Hannibal, Mo has its issues, being a tourist trap and all, but it is not that bad.
- Calhoun County, where the Illinois meets the Mississippi, offers wonderful peaches and turtle soup. Aim to visit around the beginning of August, but do a web search for the Peach festival to be sure of dates.

My favorite place, though, is actually in Indiana near the Wabash River (which is a beautiful river on its own) - New Harmony. It started life as a Utopian community in the early 19th century. Grew very quickly and became successful because everyone worked - men, women and children. And they found by discouraging any mixing of the sexes, people were even more productive. Only problem with the system was that no one reproduced, and they were not able to bring in enough converts to keep going - so they sold the town, moved to Pennsylvania and quietly disappeared after building another impressive town.

This left a lovely brick town which was purchased by a Scot, Robert Owen (you may have heard of him) whose utopian ideal was a lot more socialist - create a town where education and life of the mind is paramount. Give people their homes and take care of them. Everyone works and learns together for the good of all. The problem here is that most of the people who came were more interested in the living free part, than the working for the good of all.

But the Owens did quite well, starting the Smithsonian Institution, the USGS, and making their mark in lots of other ways. And they seem to have made more than enough money to keep operating their pretty little historic town, as well as commissioning some major architects to build incidental buildings (visitors center, church, outdoor church, and more). So today you have this great historical village, inn, two good restaurants and some impressive modern architecture.

Which makes a very good way to spend a weekend, though it is a long drive from here. For more info, try http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/kade/newharmony/home.html or just do a search on New Harmony. I will deifinitely be going back to Calhoun County for peach season, and New Harmony for a weekend sometime soon.

Thanks, dicksond, for your lengthy post on southern Illinois. It's a place near and dear to my heart. My mother-in-law is from Calhoun County and we go down regularly so she can visit her family. For those not in the know, Calhoun is the only county in Illinois without any railroad tracks running through it. Places to stay include the Lodge at Pere Marquette State Park (it fills up quickly and is similar to the Lodge at Starved Rock) and if you're looking for cheaper accommodations, there is always the Super 8 in Jerseyville, about 25 minutes away.

Randy's aunt lives in Kampsville. One of our favorite weekend trips is to drive to Kampsville each October for Old Settler's Days (usually Columbus Day weekend). Tons of food, fun activities (especially for kids) and weird pioneer-type crafts for sale on the bank of the Mississippi River. People camp in teepees on the banks of the river, dressed in Indian clothing or pioneer-type clothing. Randy's cousin Tina sells mum plants there in costume. Kampsville also has a community-wide garage sale that weekend (although for a town of 650 people, you don't really find a lot of stuff). Last we heard, Randy's cousin Marcy was running for mayor of Kampsville, so if you get pulled over in Kampsville, let them know you are a friend of Randy.

When we go to southern Illinois, I have a tendency to eat catfish -- at practically every meal. We are partial to the Kampsville Inn for their catfish dinner. It's located right next to the ferry.

Grafton has an antique show once a month at the old boatworks on the river. I've found a number of items there that I was compelled to purchase. We also like the metalworks next to the boatworks. I have a wrought iron alligator and a dragonfly in my garden purchased from them. The prices are very low.

If you are in Grafton, do try the catfish at O'Jan's. Another favorite place is the Fin Inn, which boasts a large aquarium inside. It's a five hour ride from our house to get down there, but my kids agree it's a favorite place to visit.

Suzy

dicksond wrote:Random notes on fun places in Illinois (and nearby) -

<snip>

- If you like old river towns like Joliet (which I do) Alton, Grafton, And Quincy are sort of cool. Basically early industrial towns. Hannibal, Mo has its issues, being a tourist trap and all, but it is not that bad.

Yes, THANKS! for the post. I hope to try a few of the suggestions soon. I'd add on the river towns, that Lockport and Lemont are pretty cool in their own right as is Riverside (and Lyons does have its one neat building on the river...)

The elephant grave, that's different than the one at Waldheim (or one of the other cementaries in the Maywoodish area?)

Hi,

Within an hour of Carbondale and in the vicinity of Shawnee National Forest is Little Grand Canyon.

Alan Solomon who is a Chicago Tribune travel writer did a series on mid-state and southern Illinois. This would be worthwhile looking up for any prolonged trip of southern Illinois, which is below Springfield.

No mention of the first McDonalds in Elk Grove Village? As far as I know, the first location is locked up but they open it up in the summer.

ChiTownAbs wrote:No mention of the first McDonalds in Elk Grove Village? As far as I know, the first location is locked up but they open it up in the summer.

I believe it's in Des Plaiines, and yes, it's cordoned off, but there's a contemporary McD's across the street.

Hi,

They do have guided tours of the Ray Kroc original location. At the contemporary location, they have news clippings as part of the decor that I find interesting to read. I recall one discussed how they made fries from fresh potatoes and the two-step frying method, which of course has been long abandoned.

McDonald's Museum & Store #1
400 N. Lee St.
Des Plaines
Memorial Day - Labor Day
Information: 847-297-5022

2005 season June 2 - September 3:
Thurs-Friday: 10 AM-2:30 PM; Saturday: 10:30 AM - 4 PM

Vital Information wrote:Yes, THANKS! for the post. I hope to try a few of the suggestions soon. I'd add on the river towns, that Lockport and Lemont are pretty cool in their own right as is Riverside (and Lyons does have its one neat building on the river...)

The elephant grave, that's different than the one at Waldheim (or one of the other cementaries in the Maywoodish area?)

You are welcome.

Well, since I am in Lemont at least once a month, I do not think of it as obscure, and what with Lockport being twenty minutes from my front door, it does not seem too obscure either, but I suspect that is just me being provincial. All of the towns on the old Illinois Michigan canal, and the park on the canal itself, are pretty cool. Did you know that you can walk, ride a bike, or even a horse from Lemont to Kankakee?

In fact any place that has a bunch of 19th century buildings that have not been destroyed (which was very much the case with most of downtown Naperville until a vicious wave of construction hit over the last five years) has great attraction for me. Lemont also is a decent place to eat with the Lithuanian coffee shop and a real outpost of Vito and Nick's in the local bowling alley.

As to the elephant grave, the one I am referring to was somewhere in far southwestern Illinois, as I recall - maybe 60 miles northeast of St. Louis. But you have made me think that a Chicago area cemetary tour is in order one of these days. Anyone have specific ones, and particular monuments they fancy?

dicksond wrote: you have made me think that a Chicago area cemetary tour is in order one of these days. Anyone have specific ones, and particular monuments they fancy?

There's a lot of information at Graveyards of Chicago

I love Forest Home Cemetery in Forest Park. The highlight is the Haymarket Monument, which includes the full text of the pardon by Gov. Altgeld. Surrounding it is the "Socialist Section", with monuments to everyone from Emma Goldman and Big Bill Heywood to someone you've never heard of but who wanted his monument to read "A photographer for the people."

But just as interesting are what are called the "Gypsy graves." Some of them include color photographs of the deceased. Many also have offerings left at their bases--maybe a teddy bear for a child or an opened can of Malt Liquor for an adult.

There's also a lot of Oak Park history in the cemetery, including Ernest Hemingway's parents. I discovered it first on an Oak Park Historical Society walk, which I also recommend.

Great link & info, Ann. Thanks.

I recently was in a Lutheran cemetary in Streator where someone had apparently made the decision that it was most becoming if all graves were just marked with a simple stone, flush to the ground. Good idea, properly modest so Martin Luther would approve, and I am sure it makes mowing the grass so much easier, except for one small thing.

Some families had taken to decorating the graves with artifical flowers in little vases and this custom had caught on. What started as a lovely grassy field on top of a hill had turned into a field of garishly colored artificial flowers in cheap plastic vases. Natural beauty became, to this eye, a comic parody, not to discount the love and remembrance these flowers represented in any way. Okay, maybe a little.

This is more of a summertime thread, to be sure, but some of us have to find ways to occupy the offspring during the winter, too. Friday we went to Wheaton College, where I knew we would find two things, each of which was, at least, half worth the trip. First, the Mastodon of Wheaton:



Besides the Mastodon, whose platform revolves when you press the button (which meant each kid had to have a shot at making him move, which meant listening to the entire recording twice), there's a little nat-hist museum upstairs, though the reality is somewhat less than a museum and somewhat more than a closet, with some stuffed things there, mostly interesting, a few appalling (the quintessential 1950s elephant-foot wastebasket, for instance-- next to a fetal elephant in formaldehyde). All this is in the science building.

Not far away, in the Marion Wade center, are (as you may have seen in the newspaper) a number of items relating to the author C.S. Lewis, whose Narnia books we've been reading lately (and one of which, of course, is in movie theaters at the moment). Among the items are Lewis' writing desk, a very nice painted map of Narnia done for the books (alas, not in our inexpensive paperback editions), and... a certain wardrobe carved by Lewis' grandfather and in his home when he was growing up.



Don't go in, Myles!

Mastodon.

Wardrobe.

(Note that hours are limited, mostly weekdays and some days around the holiday break will be closed. Check before you trek.)

Down the street from me....

Hi,

What is the address where Mrs. Lincoln's home used to reside?

In Batavia, IL is Bellevue Place where Mary Todd Lincoln was confined after being committed for insanity in the mid-1870's.

Regards,

The Batavia Historical Society has a really nice musuem, I used to live behind Bellevue Place. Actually, Mrs. Lincoln supposedly lived in the home of the director which is a neat old home across the street. Very pretty area with neat old homes, Batavia had limestone quarries and many homes and civic buildings arond town reflect that. We also have our windmills as at one time, there were 5 windmill manufactuers in town. If you come here and go to our City Hall, you will see an example of each of the windmills made here and some of our old limestone buildings.

Cathy2...
I don't have the exact address handy, but it's in the West Loop, on the north side of Washington St about four blocks east of Ashland Ave.

The plaque is on a rather nondescript warehouse.

"Mary bought a home at 375 W. Washington St. in Chicago for $17,000. She moved out and rented it the next year"

from a website devoted to MTLincoln

That address sounds like the old numbering system from before State and Madison was set as the origin (reference point). Nineteenth century numbers and street names often differ from today's.

dicksond wrote:

"In fact any place that has a bunch of 19th century buildings that have not been destroyed (which was very much the case with most of downtown Naperville until a vicious wave of construction hit over the last five years) has great attraction for me."

Funny you should mention downtown Naperville. Just so happens this thread was top-of-mind today as I toured my great-great-great (no kidding) grandfather's house in Naper Settlement. This is a "living history village," complete with costumed interpreters that some civic-minded Napervillians decided to create in the late 1960's. They assembled some of the earliest buildings in town on a 13-acre site adjacent to the Martin Mitchell Mansion, a brick magnate's palatial home donated by his heirs to the city in 1939. This summer, at a family reunion, I learned that some of my cousins had found (via googling, natch) that Alexander Howard, the maternal grandfather of my great-grandfather had been one of the first settlers of Naperville and its postmaster. His home also served as a stagecoach stop. Family history has it that he bypassed Chicago (too swampy) and headed west to Naperville, then headed on to greater opportunities in Joliet. Though we knew his story, no one in the family imagined that his circa 1833 home was still standing -- and beautifully restored!

Here is a link to the Naper Settlement's website, specifically a picture of the Paw Paw Post Office, the Howard's home, named for the paw paw tree that stood outside (alas, there is none now).

http://www.napersettlement.org/museumin ... ffice.html


They have kids overnights, birthday parties, and weddings at the chapel. The historic buildings and lovely grounds are available for receptions and corporate or family events. The museum and its costumed interpreters host a number of special events during the year. This weekend, January 1, 2006, Naperville celebrates its 175th anniversary. The Settlement will be open from 1-5 PM, and nearby downtown businesses host street vendors and special dining events (at establishments flying a blue and white flag) until 8PM. At 5:30 an Electric Light Parade takes place (does that mean ELO will be playing?), followed by the grand finale: fireworks and a carillon concert (the Royal Fireworks Suite by Handel).

for more information visit http://www.naper175.org

This wasn't meant to be a plug worthy of the Chamber of Commerce, but I'm just so darn proud, dontcha know.

By the way, I noticed a vintage Burger King nearby oddly reminiscent of the original golden arches buildings, but accessorized with red, angular flying-buttresses. BK aside, there were quite a few chain offerings, but where should an LTH-er eat in downtown Naperville when there's little time to explore?

edited to fix link