One of The Last Farms in Chesterfield

Will this farm be turned into a subdivision one day? I hope not since it sits right on Clarkson Road, reminding everyone how much better the county could have turned out.

Family Farm, August 2011

It's late summer, and things are looking good around the family farm.

Barn, Washington, Illinois

A barn I featured last year has fallen on hard times. I don't know if it was hit by storm, or if it's being torn down.My father informed me it would be a great loss, as the structure of the barn, built so there are no vertical posts blocking the hayloft, is a fine work of engineering in wood. When it's gone, this testament to past ingenuity will be gone.

Interesting Barn, Southern Missouri

More Family Farm, March 2011

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.

Horse Barn, Family Farm, Deer Creek, Illinois

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.

Abandoned Farmstead, Far North County

I came across this house and barn in far north St. Louis County, almost to the Missouri River.Who lived here, and why did no one move in after the last inhabitants left?Perhaps the house was in too deteriorated state that renovation seems prohibitively expensive.The barn is still in relatively good shape, though it could stand to receive a new coat of paint.

Pevely Farms

Pevely Farms, now gone and replaced by a subdivision and golf course, still manages to hold on to some traces of its past, such as this dilapidated barn, and this pasture.

Pevely Farms Valley

Go west out I-44, get off at the Lewis Road exit, and go north, and pretty soon you'll come out into a valley that is one of the most beautiful areas of the Meramec River as it snakes its way through St. Louis County.Pevely Farms, a show farm that brought people out from the City, has now been transformed into a housing development interlaced with a golf course.In fact, there are lots of golf courses out this way, for some reason. But look closer, and you find the remnants of what once was clearly an idyllic area, relatively untouched by suburban development and sprawl.I can only imagine what it must have been like to take the train out from the city, follow the river out past Castlewood and then arrive at the bend in the river where you can see for miles in all directions.

Family Farm, Late Summer 2010

The family farm was a treat this Labor Day weekend, as the weather was perfect, with sunshine and white, puffy clouds buffeted by a pleasant breeze.
Grass has begun to grow in what had been a muddy cow lot only a year before. Ongoing efforts to regrade and clean up junk have been largely completed, leaving the barns in more idyllic, accurate historically settings.The corn is about ready to be harvested, and should be ready in the next couple of weeks. The stalks, already drying out, are rustling in the wind.I like how this ear of corn is peaking out from the row. This is field corn, meant for animal consumption, not human.Below is the last of five cottonwood trees, planted approximately one hundred years ago, still clinging to life. We were sure it was a goner.Everything is green, and the whole area is lush despite a dry August. Off in the distance, you can spot a neighbor's barn and house.This huge granite boulder was moved by my great-grandfather and a hired hand with horses; there were no bulldozers available one hundred years ago. It was deposited millenia ago by glaciers, and was deposited here to get it out of a field.Wild grapes have begun to return to rural areas of Illinois, after being decimated by Roundup. Hopefully next year they will bear fruit.A cow has just given birth to a calf in the last week, and we were delighted to see it prancing around its mother's side while we were looking at a pasture.See earlier posts about the farm here.

Historic Chesterfield, Part #2

The Mertz Cabin above is an early example of a log cabin the Chesterfield area; while log cabins may seem primitive, in reality they required a fair amount of ingenuity.Above is the Davis House, where my parents' good friend Laurain David lived for many years until she passed away at the age of 90 several years ago. She told my parents tales of when all the roads in West County were gravel, a surprisingly short amount of time ago. Her house dates from the 1840's and was moved from across Olive Street Road to the park. Laurain never like the color the park had painted it; it was always white when she lived in it. The sunflowers below are not nearly as tall as mine, but they have bigger blooms. Everyone loves barns, and the Sellenriek and Schlueter Barns are great examples of the all-important structure in agriculture.I still find the occasional barn scattered here and there throughout West County, and they are increasingly becoming a rare commodity as they succumb to old age and disrepair.

Historic Chesterfield, Part #1

Who says Chesterfield has no history?! Faust Park, in the St. Louis County Parks system, has assembled a coterie of some of the most significant and interesting houses from West County, primarily from the Chesterfield area. The Conway House, seen above and below, is a great example of an early 19th Century farmhouse, complete with authentic garden plantings around the yard.The Warmbrodt Summer Kitchen has been added to the Conway House complex and painted to match. A common myth is that the kitchen was separate to prevent fires. In reality, it was to keep the heat of the kitchen away from the house in the summer. In the winter, the heat was welcomed into the house.The Hoch House, seen below, is a perfect example of German brick construction, at home as much in the county as in the inner neighborhoods of St. Louis. The Hochs owned a local brick business and general store.Finally the Alt Schoolhouse is a nice example of an early school off of Reinke Road originally.