Sightseeing

In our first week of residing in the Midwest, we visited the town of Galena, Illinois. Eighty five percent of Galena's buildings are in a National Register Historic District. Rich lead deposits were first mined by the Sac and Fox Indians. In the late 1600's, French established trading posts in the area. By the early 1800's the upper Mississippi Lead Mine District was established by the U.S. Congress, which paved the way for what would become the industry that would give birth to the City of Galena. Galena is definitely a tourist destination. All of the old buildings are filled with shops selling anything from candles, home decor and jewelry to the usual tourist trinkets of magnets, key chains and t-shirts. It was really neat though to walk through the streets and think back to how it was. Small plaques were affixed to the building fronts stating the year it was built and what business originally stood there. There were a few original cobblestone streets. We stopped at a small diner for some lunch. They were out of chicken strips, croissants for our sandwiches and coleslaw. We should have left but settled for some BLTs... with waaaay to much mayonnaise.
Did you know that President Grant lived in Galena? We had the opportunity to tour his home. This fully furnished home was given to him by a group of citizens upon his triumphant return from the Civil War in 1865.