A DAY IN STE. GENEVIEVE!!

Thursday, August 15th the weather was so beautiful it seemed a shame not to be out doing something to enjoy it!!  Ken and I met up with our friends Pat and Rich and headed for  Ste. Genevieve, Missouri to tour some of their  historic homes.

WARNING .. WARNING!!  This is a rather lengthy story .. you might want to get a cup of Coffee or a nice cold drink and a snack before going any further!!   I could remember very little of what our tour guides told us at each home so I did some research (Google of course!) and came up with quite a lot of information about these homes and decided to  share this information with you also!! If you love history and want to see even more information about Ste. Genevieve click on the blue underlined links. 

Ste. Genevieve was founded in the mid-eighteenth century by French-Canadian settlers, most of whom migrated from villages on the east bank of the Mississippi River, such as Prairie du Rocher, Illinois. Because of repeated flooding from the Mississippi River, with an especially bad occurrence in 1785, they decided to relocate to a higher site further away from the river.

THE FIRST HOUSE ON OUR TOUR WAS THE FELIX VALLE HOUSE

MERCHANT &  SECOND STREET

The Felix Vallé State Historic Site in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, was originally built in about 1818 by Jacob Phillipson, a Jewish merchant from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the home of Felix Vallé and Odile Pratte-Vallé. The house is a Federal style limestone building that features an authentically stocked mercantile store representing the historic trading firm of Menard & Vallé. Original mantels and interior trim with early Empire furnishings complete the family living quarters. An outdoor staircase leads to the second floor bedrooms. The garden area features original brick and frame outbuildings.

 The Felix Vallé State Historic Site consists of several buildings that preserve and interpret various examples of the architecture and history of Sainte Genevieve. The centerpiece of the site is the Felix Vallé House, built in 1818 by its original owner, Jacob Philipson. This combination mercantile store and residence was constructed out of native limestone in the Federal style and illustrates the influence Americans had on the community following the Louisiana Purchase. Philipson sold the house in 1824 to Jean Baptiste Vallé, the son of Francois Valle, who was the first Spanish commandant of the town when it was under Spanish rule. Felix Vallé, the fourth son of Jean Baptiste became the owner in 1835. The building housed the trading firm of Menard & Vallé as well as the residence of Felix and his wife Odile. With the help of recovered ledgers the mercantile store  is currently stocked with items that would’ve been available during Felix Vallé’s time. While holding firmly to their French traditions, including language and religion, the Vallés embraced the modern features of 19th century life that became available with the advent of steamboat traffic on the Mississippi River. The residential portion of the building is spacious and furnished with period pieces including furniture, clothing, glass and house wares. Some of the pieces on display originally belonged to the Vallé family. In back of the home is a building which housed the kitchen and in the yard is a typical family garden

 



 

 

 

 

 



 

THE SECOND HOUSE ON THE TOUR WAS THE BOLDUC HOUSE

125 SOUTH MAIN STREET 

In 1792 Louis Bolduc, a successful merchant and trader, who also had lead mines to the west, built a one-story house at the new village site, about three miles north of the first. First to be built in the one-story house was a large "keeping room", about 26'x 27', where the family conducted most of its activities. It has a large fireplace at the north end, and a wide-plank puncheon floor, made of logs cut flat on only one side, with the curved side laid down. Storage for lead, corn and other goods was in the attic above the room. In 1793, Bolduc had the wide hallway and a large sleeping chamber added, the latter also about 26' x 27' in size. Historians believe the sleeping chamber had two "sleeping cells," areas partially walled off for privacy: one for him and his wife and one shared by their three children. Bolduc had tall windows with glass installed in both large rooms, another mark of his wealth.

The walls of the house were built with heavy oak timbers set about six inches apart and infilled with bousillage, a mixture of mud, straw, and horsehair that hardened to a cement-like texture. Sometimes other animal or human hair was added to the mixture. Diagonal timbers on each supporting wall added stability.^[3] The steep hip roof, made of cedar shakes, was supported by heavy, hand-hewn Norman trusses held together by mortise and tenon joinery. It extends over the four sides of the house's porches to provide shade and cooling. The house is surrounded by a reconstructed stockade fence typical of the time (to keep out livestock that roamed in the area). Gardens have been reconstructed on the grounds.

Located at 125 South Main, the property was owned by Bolduc family descendants until the 1940s. Furnished with pieces typical of the period, today it is operated as a historic house museum.

 

Notice the jagged part of this "chandelier" at the top by the ceiling .. this is a ratchet .. the fixture could be raised and lowered using this ratchet system!! 

 

 

We were told that the item on the left in this picture is a foot warmer!!  You put hot coals in the base of this utensil and use the handle to carry it over to where you are sitting .. put your foot on two raised sides on top and toast your tootsies!! 

Notice the wooden "spike" through the hole in the column .. that's what's holding this truss up .. there were no nails used in the structure!!! 

An outside oven with a wooden roof over it. 

 

The well is inside the smaller wooden topped structure!  

 

Beautiful gardens 

 

 

Louis Bolduc's widow, Marie, had this "modern" kitchen installed in 1815!!

THE BOLDUC - LeMILLEUR HOUSE

125 SOUTH MAIN STREET

A walk through the beautiful gardens of the Bolduc House and through a gate in the back stockade fence brought us to more beautiful gardens in the backyard next door.  This house was built around 1820 by Louis Bikduc's granddaughter Agathe and her husband, Rene LeMeilleur. 

 

 

 

The front of the Bolduc - LeMeilleur House

Needless to say, by now we are getting verrrryyyy hungry!!  Time to head for "The Anvil Saloon" for lunch and the largest serving of Onion Rings I have ever seen!! 

 



 

Can you find Ken, Pat and Rich???????

 

THE ONION RINGS!!  And this is a SMALL order!!  Bill, another friend from the Bead Company, told us to be sure and get the Onion Rings but not to get a large order because it would be too many to eat .. he was right .. even though these are the BEST Onion Rings I've ever had a small order was pleanty since we would soon be eating our lunch  .. we even saved 4 of them to take to Bill the next day .. LOL!!   We were wondering just how large a LARGE order would be and we soon got out chance to see it .. those things looked like they were stacked at least a foot high on the serving plate!!!  Thanks Bill for telling us about these they were indeed delicious!!!  After our lunch and a brief rest we were ready to go again!!!

NEXT STOP .. THE STE. GENEVIEVE MUSEUM

MERCHANT & DUBOURG PLACE

 

This is a small Museum but there are LOTS of interesting items to view.   Varied collections of local memorabilia, prehistoric and historic Indian relics, old documents, artifacts from Missouri's first industry, the Saline Creek Salt Works, and a scale model of the Mississippi River Railroad Transfer Boat, "The Ste. Geneivie".  





 

From here it was just a short stroll to our next destination ..

 

THE CHURCH OF STE. GENEVIEVE

49 DUBOURG PLACE



 



 The cost of building this church was  $24,000.00.    Odile Pratte Valle, widow of Feliz Valle donated $18,000.00.    Because of her great generosity the schools in Ste. Genevieve were named Valle Schools in her honor. 

 

THE GUIBOURD HOUSE

ONE NORTH FOURTH STREET

 

The Guibourd House, also known as La Maison de Guibourd, is an example of poteaux-sur-solle (vertical post on sill or foundation) sealed with bouzillage (usually a mixture of clay and grass) construction. The structure was built around 1806 and was the home of Jacques Jean Rene Guibourd and his family.

The basic architecture of the Guibourd House is very similar to other Creole-French structures around the town and throughout the French inhabited regions of the Illinois Country/territory, eastern Canada and the Louisiana territory.

The structure's design has been changed only slightly over the years to accommodate the needs of the various residents, but overall retains much of the original character and style of the early 19th century French Creole architecture. The house had originally been built with 'galleries' (or wide porches) surrounding the house to keep the interior cool in the summer and the snow off in the winter.

The slave quarters or kitchen was added a few years later. The kitchen building was made of brick and detached from the main house due to the dangers of fire in the food preparation areas. It too was common for these structures to have been built a few steps away from the main house to keep any fire isolated to only one building. The Guibourd kitchen, however, was built in a ‘semi-attached’ fashion, under one corner of the porch. This proved invaluable for the family and slaves when serving meals to be able to keep them hot, dry and timely. The Guibourd House has one of the only ‘original’ kitchen structures and slave quarters of this time period in Ste. Genevieve.

Jacques came to Ste. Genevieve from France by way of Saint Domingue where he had been a secretary to a wealthy plantation owner. During a slave rebellion, he was smuggled out of the country in a cargo barrel by his slave, Moros.

He and Moros made their way back to France whereupon seeing the chaos and destruction there caused by the Reign of Terror (1793–94, just after the French Revolution of 14 July 1789) had decided to leave their homeland. After hearing of a population of French speaking settlers (possibly Royalist (Chouannerie) or those loyal to King Louis XVI) in America from someone headed to Philadelphia, he and Moros decided to sail to America. There is some evidence that Jacques and Moros were shipwrecked during that voyage and that resulted in the two losing all their belongings. It has been noted that when Jacques arrived in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri sometime in the late 1790s, he was penniless.

There is documentation noting that Ursula’s father, Jean-Baptiste Barbeau, took in Jacques (and presumably Moros) until he could get settled. This resulted in his meeting his future wife, Ursula in addition to becoming acquainted with Jean-Baptiste Valle, the Commandant of Ste. Genevieve (in the Illinois Territory, Upper Louisiana).

In 1799, he obtained a Spanish land grant for the entire block (2 arpents X 2 arpents, 1 arpent = 192 feet) on which his house currently stands. While the house was being built, Jacques opened a mercantile and sold goods to villagers from his residence just across the street from La Maison de Guibourd. Copies of his merchant’s ledger shows what he sold, to whom, how much the items cost and how the items were paid for.

In June 1800 he married Ursula Barbeau and quickly became involved in the affairs of the town. He served as a judge on the territorial district court and was a Commissioner of Rates and Levies for the Ste. Genevieve District. He was also one of the original trustees of the 1808 Ste. Genevieve Louisiana Academy, the first institute of higher education west of the Mississippi River.

In addition to being a merchant, Jacques owned a tan-yard (or tannery) just a few miles South of town on the River aux Vases, and owned a lead mine located west of town in what is now Washington County, MO.

Jacques’ son, Eugene, married Marie Therese St. Gemme Beauvais and had 12 children most of whom were born in Old Mines, Washington County, MO.

Jacques died 29 May 1812. After Ursula died on October 20, 1843, the south half of the property and the house was inherited by sons Jules and Omer. The northern half was inherited by their son, Eugene who had moved back to Ste. Genevieve just four years earlier in 1839.

At age 11, Eugene’s son, Felix, traveled with his uncles, Jules and Omer Guibourd back to Angers, France. There, he obtained his degree in science and art, and attended medical school in Paris. Felix returned to Ste. Genevieve in 1865 where he practiced medicine until his death in 1885.

In 1859 according to the HABS survey, Jules and Omer sold their part of the lot to Eugene and it subsequently became the property of his son, Felix. In 1907, the property was sold to Clovis G. Boyer who in turn sold the house to Jules Felix and Anne Marie Vallé.

 In January, 1973, Anne Marie’s will left the house to the Foundation for Restoration of Ste. Genevieve.  The furnishings in the house were also left by Anne Marie Valle.

 

 

 



LET'S CHECK OUT THE ATTIC!! 

 

Don't you just love these stairs??????  The Guibourd's were farmers and the attic was used as a granary to store their grain through the Winter months  .. the grain made good  insulation to keep the cold weather out of the house!! 

 

These  trusses .. are TREES!!

If you look very closely you can see the wooden "spikes" that hold the trusses together!! 

Once again .. notice the wooden "spike" through this wooden truss .. there were no nails used to build the trusses holding this house together!!! 

Seeing the system that has held this house together for well over a hundred years is amazing!!!

 

 

Anne Marie's bedroom



 



 

 The building you can see through the trees is where the kitchen and slave quarters were.  The guide did not take us through this.

 

This was a beautiful back yard but there were too many people to get a good picture!  The lady in the red bonnet was part of a yard cleaning crew .. they were working feverishly cleaning up and the area for there was going to be a wedding there!!! 

This beautiful house and grounds was the last of our tour in Ste. Genevieve.  It was an afternoon well spent!! 



Are y ou wondering where we came across this guy????   The weather was soooo beautiful .. sunny .. breezy .. a little bit cool .. that we just weren't ready to head back home yet when we left Ste. Genevieve so we decided to check out the scenery at the Chaumette Winery!!   Ken caught sight of this little guy  basking in the shade of this plant as we were walking up the path to the Winery .. of course I had to have a picture!! 





Sad to say .. Pat, Ken and I were party poopers and just ordered Ice Water but Rich enjoyed a glass of Wine!! 



We took our "drinks" out to the patio and spent a while enjoying all this beautiful scenery and visiting and relaxing before our drive home.

 

 



 

 



It was a bit of a drive to get here but well worth it to see all of God's beauty out here in Wine Country!!!  It was an AWESOME day .. Thank You Pat and Rich for coming up with the idea .. what a wonderful way to spend the day!!!