Westward Expansion
Road Trip Through History: Unexpected Stories in Quincy Illinois
Quincy, Illinois, was our final stop on this segment of driving the Great River Road.* It wasn’t so much a stop as a pause on our way home. But it was a good pause, with some unexpected stories. The town has a number of museums and restored historical homes. It also has an interesting outdoor…
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Road Trip Through History: Old Fort Madison
And now, back to the Great River Road after a brief detour to South Africa at the end of the nineteenth century: We got to Old Fort Madison, outside what I suppose would be called new Fort Madison Iowa, shortly before the site closed. We had driven past the town where we planned to…
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Rock Island Arsenal, Part 1: Colonel Davenport’s House, and a Couple of Long Digressions
Visiting “Colonel” George Davenport’s house on the Rock Island Arsenal* turned out to be more interesting than I expected, in part because of our knowledgeable and enthusiastic guide. And also because it turned out that “Colonel” Davenport was right at the center of things in the history of the the region. Something I also hadn’t…
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