It turns out that most of Fort deChartres is actually a reproduction, but it is still really interesting to see.
The building below, the powder arsenal, is supposedly the oldest stone building in Illinois, though heavily restored, obviously.
I think the idea is to eventually rebuild the entire walls around the fort one day.
For the time being, foundations can give you the impression of what other buildings once stood in the compound.
A trip to Old Valmeyer would not be complete without a trip to New Valmeyer, high on the bluffs above the old town.
Meant to be a planned community, some residents complained that the feel of the old town was lost in the new town.
Perhaps that's only logical, as the grid is gone for the most part from New Valmeyer, replaced with a fairly standard suburban cul-de-sac plan.
Unfortunately, it looks like the plan was never completed for a "Main Street" as the street facing the high school is nothing but barren lots. Surely something was planned for this area.
Compare the New Valmeyer from the air to the Old Valmeyer. Barring flooding issues, which doomed the old town, which one would you want to live in?
I realized we had arrived in the old town of Valmeyer, Illinois when the streets began to appear out of nowhere, interspersed with shade trees and the occasional building.
Bought out by the government, most of Valmeyer was demolished after the Great Flood of 1993. The entire town was moved up onto the bluffs, to a new community.
Interestingly, Google Maps still places the town down in the flood plain, and not in its current location on the bluffs.
The cattle barn was built around ninety years ago; the two large sheds were built by my great-uncle to help support the barn and to store farm implements.
The pasture is still brown from the winter.
Replacement trees for the cottonwood trees that were all struck by lightning are coming along nicely as well.
The ice house, one of the oldest buildings on the farm, sits on the south side of the property.
The over one hundred year old horse barn on the family farm is still looking good, even after all these years.
Preventative maintenance helps as well.
Look at the size of those timbers holding up the roof.
This building used to be Italianate, but somewhere along the line it was re-skinned in order to cover the older architecture. Too bad that it can't be brought back one day.
The massive, Brutalist Dillard's building is not without its charms.
The reflective glass has begun to fade on the front entrance.
I like the details of the restaurant's windows, which puncture the side of the white brick facade.
No one knows who designed this sculpture, or even its real name.
But decades of stoned teenagers have come to know it as the "Wehrenberg Sculpture" after its similarity to the letter W.
It cuts a thin profile as well. What will happen to this sculpture if the mall is shuttered?
