I went around and looked at some of the towns northeast of the family farm. I started with Eureka, the county seat of Woodford County. I could have sworn I had featured the courthouse before, but apparently not. Got to love the bank where they filled in the windows–who needs natural light when there’s amazing…
Tag: Farms
Dawn, Family Farm, Deer Creek Township, March 2022
I woke up early and caught the sunrise coming up over the fields to the east. The fields are fallow for now, but in a month or two they will be brought back to life.
Farmstead, Surrounded by Highways
We spotted this farmhouse, which had received some more decorative millwork but is still essentially a Greek Revival wood frame structure, sitting on a rapidly shrinking plot of land on St. Peters Parkway, just to the north of the Page Avenue Extension. What is interesting is that fair number of outbuildings are still standing. I’m…
Early Morning, Family Farm, Deer Creek Township, Tazewell County, Illinois
When I first woke up the sun was shining, but then the fog materialized an hour after sunrise. As I drove up the road to the north to photograph the longhorns at a neighbor’s farm, the mists suddenly lifted only enough for me to take pictures of my family farm’s barns emerging from the mist….
Dusk, Family Farm, Deer Creek Township, Tazewell County, Illinois
The sun sets early in December but I was still able to get these photos of the family farm. Update: The cattle barn below was destroyed by a tornado in March of 2023.
Current Affairs This Summer
I went by the Theophile Papin House on the last Saturday of June. It’s being demolished. It’s sad, but honestly, it had been so heavily altered that it wouldn’t really have been feasible or worthwhile to restore it back to its original appearance. It would have been an ersatz structure. During demolition some interesting stone…
Bluff View Park
Opened on August 7, 2015, Bluff View Park off Old State Road is a wonderful new addition to St. Louis County Parks. There seems to be a previous history to the acreage, as there are the remnants of an old fence line with concrete posts that cuts through the property. And then, you come out…
Two Houses in Wildwood
There’s this genteel old house sitting out on St. Albans Road at Manchester Road, way out in Wildwood. It was built in 1913 by J.P. Connell, the president of the Glencoe Clay Company for $1,800. It was a nice house, with what looks to be stucco, and according to property records, is a wood frame…
The Old Estate, Huntleigh
I went to an estate sale in one of the largest remaining pieces of farmland left outside of the river bottoms or in the furthest reaches of St. Louis County. It sold recently, and its future is now uncertain. I hope its new owners preserve its beauty.