Fredericktown is the picturesque county seat of Madison County, Missouri, south of St. Louis quite a ways in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It was the site of a Civil War battle due to the nearby lead mines needed to create bullets during the conflict.

The courthouse sits in the middle of the town square, which features one-way traffic; below is a nice historic gas station which is now a small store.

There are some nice houses in town, and as is typical, they are on the major roads going out of town, which was more desirable before the invention of the automobile.

This nice Greek Revival house below still has two engaged sandstone columns visible under the canopy of a later porch, and could easily date to before the Civil War.

And then, further south, is this curious house that looks to have acquired a small motel or boarding house in the 1960s. It is very strange, with green light bulbs and all.

To the west of the main square, there is this impeccable preserved house with a massive tower and other Queen Anne detailing with a bit of the Romanesque Revival.

I cannot explain this staircase below, at the entrance to the cemetery on the southern edge of town. Perhaps it was over a short fence that kept out livestock? I do not know.

Then, heading north is the town of Mine La Motte, where originally silver mining segued into lead mining by the French. Near the historic marker is this abandoned school.