Montauk, Clermont, Iowa

Back in the fall of 2018, I had discovered the town of Clermont in northeastern Iowa, one of the most special places in America. I realized later I had missed one of the most amazing houses in America, high up on the hill above the town. That house and surrounding estate is Montauk, the home…

Round Barn, Hazleton, Iowa

We visited our family’s farm near Maynard, Iowa in mid July and also traveled through an Amish settlement near Hazleton, in Buchanan County. There is a round barn, but it is on private property, so we could not get very close to photograph it. But the landscape is still beautiful in the mid-summer light.

Hayloft, Horse Barn, July 2021

I climbed up in the hayloft of the horse barn and took some photos. It’s actually much older than the 1901 date that someone painted on the outside. The barn is held together with wooden pegs, not nails, and huge pieces of hardwood.

Augusta in Transition: Water to Jackson Street

Little did we know when we took a drive out to Augusta back in May of 2020 that there were big plans afoot to transform the town into a new “Napa Valley of Missouri.” But nonetheless, regardless of my opinion (which is “unless it’s for a toxic waste dump who turns down a $100 million…

Augusta, St. Charles County

Starting out in the countryside near Augusta, Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church dates back to 1851. Its building is a wonderful example of a wood frame Gothic Revival church; I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a Catholic church that looks like it before. On the outskirts of Augusta, the Christ Evangelisch Lutheran Church was…

Old State Road

Old State Road follows a ridge line through the foot hills, providing a link from Manchester Road near Ellisville down to Eureka. I imagine it is a very old road. It appears in Julius Pitzmann’s famous map of St. Louis County from right after the Civil War. There are many interesting old houses and barns…