We saw some other interesting buildings in New Harmony, including the Working Man’s Institute, founded by William Maclure in 1838. The current building is from 1894 and is still open to the public. Besides serving as a library, it also contains a museum of artifacts from the earliest period of New Harmony, as well as…
Category: Afield
Posts from further afield
Roofless Church, New Harmony, Indiana
I wouldn’t say I’m a huge fan of Phillip Johnson. There’s that whole Nazi problem, and the fact that a lot of his work just isn’t that good. The General American Life Insurance Building (now Spire) in downtown St. Louis is pretty cool, though. But we discovered the Roofless Church at New Harmony, and it’s…
New Harmony, Indiana
New Harmony, Indiana, much like the Icarians in St. Louis and Nauvoo, was part of the wave of idealistic communities founded in the United States in the Nineteenth Century. Founded by George Rapp in 1814, the settlement was developed by Lutherans from Wurttemberg in what is now Germany. They didn’t last long and moved to…
Birthplace of Venerable Fulton Sheen and Good News at The Pines, El Paso, Illinois
First of all, there’s great news for the old Elms Restaurant in El Paso, Illinois. I spotted two people working on the roof, so it seems its long-awaited rehabilitation has begun. I first looked at the historic house and restaurant back in July of 2012 and then again in December of 2019. But I had…
Northeast Adams Street, Northeast Peoria, Late June 2026
The primaries for the 2026 midterm elections are coming up, so it’s time to see how Peoria is doing, and in particular, I like to look at Northeast Peoria. I drove up Northeast Adams Street, which is one-way to the northeast through much of downtown and northeast of the central business district, paired with Northeast…
Family Farm, Late June 2026
The corn is still relatively short at the family farm east of Peoria. It is prime firefly season, with thousands appearing when the sun sets.
End of Spring 2026 Odds and Ends
It’s that time of year, so it’s time for odds and ends! Above is a spandrel from a storefront in downtown Belleville, looking suspiciously like something Louis Sullivan would design. Below is just another house we found while driving around town. Cleveland High School is looking really, really bad compared to earlier visits; I first…
Elvis Presley Birthplace, Tupelo, Mississippi
On my way back to St. Louis from Birmingham, I passed through Tupelo, Mississippi, the birthplace of Elvis Presley. The house is now a museum. Tupelo is a beautiful town that has successfully parlayed its major tourist attraction into a boon for the local economy. Instead of massive parking lots, the downtown has embraced new-urbanism,…
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama
Our final stop in Birmingham was the 16th Street Baptist Church, which is still in operation just outside of downtown. This was the site of the horrific bombing that killed four girls in 1963, which you can read about here. Here is the location on the side of the church where it happened, below. Across…
Redmont Park, Birmingham, Alabama
South of downtown is Redmont Park, and a host of other exclusive neighborhoods and I’ll admit that we probably wandered into other areas as well. I can say without a doubt that it is one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in the United States, and these photographs do not do justice showing that. It got…