ANOTHER ADVENTURE!!

ANTIQUING IN ALTON, ILLINOIS!!! 

 

Are you ready for another adventure with Ken and Liz??????  Tuesday was another beautiful  day in Missouri and we just had to get out and enjoy the sunshine and the breezes.  We had been talking for a while about going to Alton and checking out their antique stores .. Madonna and Mike had been there and loved it.  Somewhere in our "travels" we picked up a book of Antique Shops throughout Missouri and Illinois and Ken quickly found the book and made a list of all the Antique Shops in Alton .. there were 13 of them .. of those 13 .. 10 of them were located on Broadway .. you can't get much easier than that .. LOL!! 

 

After a quick breakfast we were in the car and on the road .. ready for a day of antiquing!!  

This is rather a strange looking bridge to me but Ken said it won a big prize for it's architecture!! 

I may not have been greatly impressed with the bridge but it did take us over into ILLINOIS!! 

One of the first things I spied as we got into Alton was this beautiful mural painted on one of the buildings!!

This was actually a pottery shop and we didn't go in .. but I loved their flower display out front!!



STEVE'S ANTIQUES .. this was the first shop we went into.  OH MY .. Steve had a LOT of antiques .. primitives .. and collectibles .. but everything was PILED!!!  Do you watch "American Pickers" on TV????  This was a huge building with room after room  piled full of "treasures" but you would really have to do some digging to find something .. YIKES!!  Mike and Frank (from the Pickers) would love it!!!  ME .. I like the shops that have things at least half-way organized so you can see what's there .. and PRICED .. that helps too!!!  I've wished ever since we headed home that I had taken some pictures inside the place so you could see just what a mess it was .. Arrgghhhh!!! 

 

This is an Antique Mall .. there were 3 different shops AND a Café inside.  The shops were very nicely arranged and organized .. seemed like Paradise after walking through "Steve's" place!! They had public bathrooms too .. WHEW!!   After the long drive there we definitely needed a bathroom break .. I wasn't about to ask Steve if he had one .. wouldn't even want to think what it might look like .. LOL!!

 

 

Country Meadows Antiques is upstairs .. 



And then when you get back outside you go down the ramp at the side of that store to get to this one .. sorry I forgot the name of this one!!! 

 

 I just liked the looks of these two buildings!! 

This shop was closed .. instead of a sign saying "CLOSED' on the door the sign said "SHUT" .. I guess the owner of this one had a good sense of humor!! 

 

Those two pink things sticking up in the air are a part of the Argosy Casino!!

You can see the bridge that we crossed to get into Alton .. notice the two things sticking up with things running off of them!! 

 

One end of the bridge!

 

AH HA!!  A Resale Shop in the middle of all these Antique Shops!!!  



Of course we had to go in!!!  I didn't find any "treasures" persay .. but I did find 2 blouses for only $3.00 each and a pair of black REBOK tennis shoes .. looked like they have never been worn .. for only $2.50!!!  

A better picture of the Argosy .. and a barge moving slowly past it!!

I didn't know Lincoln had ever practiced in Alton!!

 

The sign above this picture about Lincoln .. was on a podium at the side of this building .. so I assume this is the Ryder building that the sign is talking about! 

 

 

 

We went down this way searching for one of the Antique Shops that was NOT on Broadway .. we never did find it!!

 

 

However we did eventually make it to Fast Eddie's Bon Air .. this is a very very popular bar / restaurant in the St. Louis area!!  Very highly advertised!!  I'm looking at it and thinking "Oh Boy"!!  Was not much impressed!!  

 



 

 

 

As you can see by the Burgers on the grill .. this is one VERY POPULAR place!!! 

That's Ken hiding behind the pole .. actually he wasn't really hiding .. he had gone to get some napkins and was handing them to me (the white blur on the right) but I wasn't there .. I was up snapping a picture that he walked into .. LOL LOL LOL!!

 





 

Once I got my FAT EDDIE'S BURGER (1/2 lb. of Hamburger for 99 cents) and ate a couple of bits I knew why this place was so popular!!  Love that charcoal flavor .. Yummmmmmm!!  And a great price!! 

After lunch at Fast Eddie's we used our GPS to find the last of the listed Antique Shops ..

I have a sad tale to tell you later about this one!!  I broke a $75.00 pitcher!!   This place was filled with glass stuff .. nic nacs .. china .. whatever.  Ken didn't stay in there long .. once he saw it was full of glass .. he said he was going out to the car .. that he felt like a bull in a china shop .. LOL!!  I should have gone out to the car too .. I was in the third very small room of the place .. packed with shelves and the shelves were full.  The lovely pitcher you see in the picture below was sitting on the floor in front of a set of shelves .. I picked up an interesting old glass jar from one of the shelves above the pitcher .. decided I didn't want the jar .. when I sat it back on the shelf I guess I didn't set it far enough back because when I removed my hand .. you guessed it .. the jar fell off the shelf and of course hit the pitcher setting below and broke the handle off .. YIKES!!  A $75.00 pitcher!!  Of course the lady who owns the place came in .. she asked if I was okay .. I said I was okay but the pitcher wasn't and showed her what I had done.   Of course I had to pay for it .. BUT .. she very kindly took the $75.00 price tag off .. told me she had only paid $35.00 for it and that she'd had it long enough she would probably be marking it down anyway so she would only charge me $20.00!!  Bless her heart!!  It made me a bit sick to pay $20.00 for a pitcher that I didn't really even like but I am just thankful that she didn't expect me to pay the $75.00!!! 

 

Here is the poor pitcher .. Ken has it down in his shop at the moment .. he's gluing the handle pieces back on and clamping them.  I'm thinking MAYBE I could put some tall dried weeds in it and set it somewhere.  What do you think???? 

After this fiasco we were ready to leave town .. too bad we didn't leave BEFORE we found this one .. LOL!!!

 

Shortly after leaving Alton  we came across this refinery .. with all those huge fluffy clouds above it and smoke pouring out the chimneys it  looked like a cloud factory to me .. I just had to get a picture!! 

We didn't find a lot of "treasures" to buy in Alton .. but I enjoy looking as much as I enjoy buying .. so it was a great day!! 

These are my few "treasures" .. an old Mason jar .. $15.00 .. pretty high but I've never seen one like this!   Coca Cola tin .. $1.00.  Old level .. $2.00.  The two Morton Salt advertisement tiles $2.00 each. 

On the front of the jar it says MASON .. PATENT NOV 30, 1858

On the bottom of the jar it says PAT NOV .. and there's a 46 in the center of the bottom .. so I'm thinking MAYBE they were made in 1946 NOT 1858.  It doesn't matter to me .. I like the jar because It's something I've never seen before .. makes it special to me!!! 

The Coca Cola tin I like because it has the various Coca Cola advertisements on it .. and for only $1.00 .. couldn't possible pass that up!!!  Ken found it for me .. HE'S LEARNING .. LOL!! 

 

When I first moved in here Ken helped me gather up his ollllddd tools so I could display them .. I bought the level to add to the old tool display!!!   

 

That's it for our Antiquing in Alton .. it was a beautiful day and we had a great time.  You don't have to come home with a trunk full of "treasures" to have a great time .. the biggest treasure is the memory of a day well spent with someone you love!!! 

 

JUST IN TIME!!!

 

 

Ken brought the repaired pitcher up just as I was proofreading the "finished product" and getting ready to post it .. so here you are .. now what do you think????  When I find some dried weeds to put in it I'll take another pic and see what you think!!!  Thanks Ken for rescuing the poor thing .. you're a sweetheart!!!

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!!!