Founded in 1844 and inspired like many American rural cemetery movement burial grounds by Père LaChaise Cemetery in Paris, Spring Grove Cemetery is the huge contributor to the field in Cincinnati. Like many others, a cholera epidemic and a desire to replace small urban cemeteries spurred its founding. An impressive Gothic Revival gatehouse welcomes the…
Tag: Historic Sites
Lock Number 14, Illinois and Michigan Canal, LaSalle, Illinois
I have long been interested in the investigation of how Chicago passed St. Louis by in terms of economic power. I have also long felt that the discussion in St. Louis has existed at a very low intellectual level, usually focusing on the person’s own confirmation biases and background. In reality, if one tries to…
Tower Rock
We made it out to Tower Rock, and it was worth making the trek down to the rural corner of southeast Missouri where it’s located. As can be seen from the above engraving, Tower Rock has been a sight on the river for generations of travelers, and I think about all the people who have…
Who Controls the Past Now Controls the Future
Who controls the past now controls the futureWho controls the present now controls the pastWho controls the past now controls the futureWho controls the present now? I’ve been thinking about the lyrics of this song by the band Rage Against the Machine, which are based off the novel 1984, after having gotten back from Paris….
The Eiffel Tower: A Critical Moment in Architectural History
Yes, the Eiffel Tower is a famous landmark in its own right, a must-see tourist destination. But the 1889 structure is also a critical moment in the history of architecture and engineering, fitting in nicely with our very own Eads Bridge and Wainwright Building. First of all, the Eiffel Tower is actually most likely iron,…
Beauty and Terror: Sainte Chapelle and the Conciergerie
As I’ve mentioned before, the center of ancient Gallic and Roman Paris was the island in the middle of the Seine River known as the Île de la Cité, and not surprisingly for symbolic and practical reasons when the city became the capital of the kingdom of France, the royal palace was located there. The…
Hameau de la Reine
Easily our favorite stop in the grounds of the Trianon was the Hameau de la Reine, or Queen’s Hamlet, constructed on the order of Queen Marie Antoinette. Despite centuries of slander, Marie Antoinette was not a clueless ditz who pretended to be a peasant girl in her Barbie hovel playset. In reality, the Queen’s Hamlet…
The Gardens of Versailles
Business up front, party in the back, as they say. The backside of Versailles facing the extensive gardens is made up of three flat elevations with large swaths of reflecting ponds and gravel paths on the first terrace. The same garden designer as Vaux-le-Vicomte, André Le Nôtre, was brought in to design the grounds here…
Club Imperial, Revisited
Good news! If you were worried that your dreams of owning the building that housed the famous Club Imperial have been dashed, your fears are unfounded! It really is a beautiful building, and if you look carefully, you can see how the architect bent the building to follow the bend in West Florissant Avenue. Hardly…
Fort Zumwalt Park, O’Fallon
Fort Zumwalt is a real place, and not just the name of four high schools, and this reconstruction of the fortified log cabin that gives its name to the surrounding park and area gives us an idea of early settler days in St. Charles County. Interestingly, Fort Zumwalt, which was originally constructed by Jacob Zumwalt…