The Mighty Miss

Currently In Quincy
Leaving for Downers Grove today - the final leg of our travels


Note: I tried to get this post uploaded last night, but Verizon service in Quincy is highly questionable.  I'm literally typing on I-55 as we head toward home.

Right across the mighty Mississippi from Quincy is Hannibal, MO of Mark Twain fame.

We learned of the boyhood that Samuel Clemens spent in Hanniba growing up poor.  We walked through his childhood home.

And the famous fence that appeared in Tom Sawyer.

Becky Thatcher's home is across the street.  The home really belonged to Laura Hawkins, Samuel Clemens' first girlfriend.

We also took a quick walk through Huck Finn's house - Huck's character was based on the real life of Tom Blankenship.

The museum at the entrance to the Mark Twain complex did a wonderful job describing the life of Samuel Clemens.  He was a printer apprentice, a riverboat pilot, a silver miner in Nevada, a journalist and author-lecturer-humorist.  His extensive world travel also informed many of his writings.  I liked this statue of Mark Twain with many characters he created.

Hannibal is  really cute and ready for tourists.

The Mark Twain Gallery was very well done.  I thought this raft was really cool.  Mark Twain created his nom de plume from his days on the river.  Mark twain is a measurement of water depth and can be interpreted as "safe water ahead".

Norman Rockwell illustrated Mark Twain's books.  There is an exhibition at the gallery containing these illustrations.

In Quincy we noticed that the river has risen over its banks.  In Hannibal, we took a walk behind the gallery and saw how full the Mississippi has gotten this season.  This park and rail line is under water.

Lover's Leap is on a bluff in Hannibal.  It is based on the story of star crossed Native American lovers.

At the top of Lover's Leap, we got a more expansive view of the river.

Here are the barges!

We saw the town of Hannibal too.

In between all the cleaning and organizing for our final push to home, we took a look at some interesting parts of Quincy.  First off - we took the Memorial Bridge below to get into Quincy. It's a truss bridge and was built in1928.

The Bayview Bridge is a cable bridge from 1987 and takes traffic into Missouri.

One of the more unusual places to visit in Quincy is Villa Katherine which overlooks the river.  It was built by rich bachelor George Metz in 1900. George traveled throughout Europe and Northern Africa.  He was intrigued with Middle East architecture and built his home.

The interior was fascinating.  First we stepped into this atrium with this column detail.

Here is a closer look at the mosaic floor of a small pool.

I loved the light fixtures too.



















It looks kind of lonely there.

Quincy is a big Lincoln town.  The Lincoln-Douglas debates (the 6th debate between the two) were held in Washington Park in 1858 as both men were vying for a US Senate seat.  Lincoln lost that election, but then of course went on to become President soon after.

We walked around the park and learned about what an important town Quincy was to that election.

Quincy Founding Father John Wood was Illinois Governor right around that time.  We didn't get a chance to visit his mansion.

A focus on Lincoln lends itself to Civil War history too.  We visited Woodland Cemetery and saw the Civil War Monument.  There are many Civil War soldiers buried in this historic cemetery.

Time for lunch! The iconic Maid Rite for a loose meat sandwich.  I swear the restaurant must look the same as it did in 1928.

The homes on the historic East End were gorgeous.  We spent a good amount of time that afternoon just driving around looking at them.

We made 2 other quick stops in downtown Quincy.
First we saw a piece of Tower 1 from the World Trade Center.  It supported an antenna that was manufactured in Quincy.  9/11/01 was personal to people all across our country.

We also stopped at St. Boniface Church where Fr. Augustine Tolton is remembered for being the first African American Catholic priest in the United States.  He was the son of slaves from Missouri, moved to Quincy as a child, was educated here,  and celebrated his first public Mass in this parish in 1886.

My Quincy cousins gave Johnny and me a great send off.  We met at The Abbey, a really cute restaurant near Quincy University.

We hope to see Amy, Tim and Matt Lawless with his wife Jenny at the Stauder Family Reunion in July!