#Galena Illinois

[grants-blue-eyed-stare]

Galena, Illinois

One of my favorite places to visit is the town of Galena in the north-west corner of Illinois. It is a popular weekend getaway location for Chicago and Chicago suburb residents. My parents used to visit it over the weekend when I was a baby, but unfortunately I don't remember any of those trips! I had the fortune of visiting the town in 2021 and again in 2022.

It is a beautiful old-fashioned town surrounded by beautiful countryside. In the 19th-century, it was a lead mining town, hence the name "Galena." During the ice age, the land was not flattened by glaciers which is why the town is hilly, despite being in the midwest.

In the 19th-century, it was a very prosperous mining town and was more populous than Chicago from the 1830s to the 1860s. It was located on a stream connected to the Mississippi, making it also a trading town. As you can see in this photo, the silt thrown up by the frequent steamboats shrunk the steam and made it too shallow to steam through. Here are also some artworks housed at the Galena history museum of Galena during its peak.

The highway to Galena is the Ulysses S. Grant highway! :) That's Elihu Washburne's house in the background, too! I haven't gotten to visit it yet...

This is the post office that was built by Ely S. Parker, a member of Grant's staff during the Civil War and later U.S. Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Here is Main Street!

This is the Galena Methodist Church that the Grants attended!

The train station!

This is the history museum! I will post more about it later :)

As I said earlier, there are a lot of hills...

This is the oldest home in Galena, the Dowling House. They have tours! It is also supposedly haunted.

[scullys-scalpel]

Random pic I took bc I thought the moonlight through the clouds looked cool. And the close up of the clouds

[driftlessbirch]

Galena, il

[heartofhubris-a]

How lucky we are to live in a world with such beauty outside our windows

[worksmarter4yourfuture]

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[creekbed-burial]

♡ From My Trip To Galena ♡

[bandcampsnoop]

6/1/24.

Hayes Noble is a musician originally from Galena, Illinois (home to Ulysses S. Grant). He's now based in Spokane, Washington. For such a young guy (he was only 17 when "Head Cleaner" was released), he makes an impressive amount of controlled and melodic noise.

Both is debut and follow up ("As It Was, As We Were"...due in June) LP are released by Two Two One (221) Press. This immediately made me think of what Buick might sound like with singing. Other touchstones have to be Dinosaur Jr., Husker Du, Love As Laughter, Hotline TNT and Knapsack.

"I'm So Tired" is an anthemic fist raiser of a song that any of the above bands would have been proud to write.

[rabbitcruiser]

The first “drive-in” filling station, Gulf Refining Company, opened to the motoring public in Pittsburgh on December 1, 1913, at Baum Blvd & St Clair’s Street.

[20th-century-railroading]

e.of Galena, Illinois, 24OCT'96

Illinois Central two GP38, two SD70 lead westbound grain empties. Further west, the train started its descent into the Mississippi River valley.

[hislop3]

Friday Feature: A Day Off

I have the pleasure of living in one of the more beautiful spots of the country. I am biased but I also, am not alone in this opinion. Galena, IL is home and where my/our office is. Conde Nast ranks it as one the friendliest cities in America and Forbes called it one of the prettiest towns in America. Trip Advisor called it one of the top ten charming small towns and Have Clothes, Will Travel…

[grants-blue-eyed-stare]

Ulysses S. Grant's home in Galena, Illinois

While visiting my family in Illinois, my grandparents were excited to tell me that they were planning a trip to Galena to visit Ulysses S. Grant's home. At this point I barely knew about him, let alone about the Civil War. This was really my spark to start learning.

I've visited Grant's home twice but have learned so much since those two visits. The house is very cozy and has a beautiful view of the town. I cold have sworn that I had a photo of the view from the house with all the leaves of the trees so you could really see it, but this is what it looks like in summer! There is a statue of Julia in the second photo <3. Unfortunately, I can't find the closer photo I have of her.

The house itself is a super cute house! It is a nice size. It's simple but very nice looking.

Here is a photo of Ulysses and one of the boys on the deck!

The inside of the house is as nice as the outside! Here is the parlor. The family bible is on the card table. The painting is of Elihu Washburne, Grant, and Lincoln!

The next room on our tour is the drawing room! It houses Grant's special big chair (the green one), a portrait of him, Nellie's piano, and other comforts of the family.

I can't find my photo of the entire dining room and Julia's first lady portrait! I'm heartbroken! I found a super low resolution photo online, but here is also a photo I took of a vase gifted to the Grants during their Eurasia tour in Japan.

I lost my photos of the upstairs, the kitchen, and bathroom! (T 0 T). Basically, the upstairs is all living quarters. All of the children's rooms are there! The kitchen is connected to a pantry and the literal bathroom. There is an old victorian bath there, wowiee.

I'll also be posting more photos of Galena! :)

If I ever find my other photos of their house at Christmas I'll post them <3

[angrykitten69]

Oddly enough, I do know this neighbor...

[driftlessbirch]

[porcelainapparition]

Galena, Illinois

built in 1896

[worksmarter4yourfuture]

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[trivialbob]

Some people refer to Illinoisans as flatlanders. Or FIBS (which always made my mom laugh after some cheesehead in Wisconsin told her what it meant).

Galena is as flat as Hef's Playmates. Hills are steep. At times around the city I'd slow way down, just so I could press my head against the roof of my truck to get a better look at what was coming at us.

Today Sheila and I went to an event where we sampled local wines then hiked with goats. Our guide on the walk said Galena has the second highest point in Illinois.

Getting to the goat place entailed driving up a steep, rocky road. I've only used four-wheel-drive in deep snow or on frozen lakes. Now felt like a good time to try it out in the summer. Sheila said the Corolla in front of us was doing fine without four-wheel-drive, and I should just keep moving along instead of playing with the button on my dashboard.

A guy from Chicago retired to the area and started a winery. His vineyard employee was a retired school teacher. He gets all sorts of free wine and gets to talk about it with people like me. Goals!

The goat place teams with the winery for these events. It's a nice combination. We bought two bottle of wine before taking our post-tasting hike with goats.

The goats get to walk along a long path several times a day. People like us pay to join them. The goats eat foliage and chokecherries along the way. We watch them, learn their names, and take pictures.

Seriously, I've had less fun at parties after drinking significantly more wine than I did today. The goats were well behaved, probably wondering why all these strangers were taking pictures of them eating and pooping.

I would definitely do it again.