Calhoun County

We went up the Great River Road to Calhoun County Illinois.

My Grandma Lee grew up in Calhoun somewhere in the hills above Hardin. I try to pass along the oral history that I remember from her and stories from my own experiences, as my family has traveled in the region just about every year since I can remember.

I know everybody must be sick of hearing the same old stories, but I sincerely hope that some day Chris will be repeating them to my grandchildren.

Grandma always told a story that sometime in the 1930s a bread truck went off of the Joe Page bridge in Hardin while the center span was up. She said the bread floated up all over the river.

I always tell about the awesome cider press that used to be at the Apple Shed. I believe the Ringhausen's owned it, and it was lost after the flood of 93.

We went west from Hardin this year, so even though I don't know where the homestead was, I still told Chris to imagine his Great-Grandma running around in those woods barefoot, swinging on grapevines as we were passing through.

I also remember riding with my Grandparents from the other side of the family. Grandma Linda couldn't see much, but she could see when the fall leaves were in full color. She loved eating at the Fin Inn in Grafton too.

We ate at the Whitmond Hotel in Brussels this time.