As a quick getaway before all of the holiday craziness begins, I sneaked away for a few days to a little resort town in Illinois.
Chances are you’ve heard of it, particularly if you know anything about the 18th president of the United States: Ulysses S. Grant. He wasn’t born in Galena (Ohio has that claim to fame) but he moved to Galena during his civilian years to work with his father and brother in the family leather business.
Because of Grant’s success in the Civil War, a group of wealthy, grateful citizens of the town presented Grant a home. He later ran his presidential campaign from this location. Of course when he won (two terms) he moved to the White House, but he visited Galena often after his retirement. By then he mainly lived in New York City, where he died of throat cancer at only sixty-three years of age. He’s buried in NYC. Remember the old “trick” question about who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb? Evidently the correct answer is no one, since his body is above ground in the tomb so he’s technically not “buried” at all.
The famous Nast portrait of Lee surrendering to Grant, ending the Civil War, hangs in the Galena History museum.
Did you know this is one of several artist renditions of this moment, but not a single one is entirely accurate? There was no artist or early tintype photographer present at the surrender, so it’s drawn from the artist’s imagination. The museum offered three other renditions, none so famous as the Nast painting, but each one was different. One had only a few people in attendance, one had so many they were clamoring at the door for a peek. A portrait of George Washington hangs on the wall in one version, as if to say the father of the United States is pleased and relieved to be watching over such a momentous occasion. Another painting, although historically inaccurate because they knew the event took place indoors, depicts the scene on a field with both armies in attendance—showing gaunt Confederate soldiers in tattered uniforms opposite well fed Union soldiers dressed in crisp uniforms astride fresh, strong horses. Artists do like to slip messages in, don’t we . . . I mean, they?
The oldest operational Post Office in the United States is in Galena. There are older post office buildings in the East, but none are still in operation.
And this . . . well, I guess I had gardens on the brain when I snapped this picture, perhaps because of my upcoming 2012 release, Bees In The Butterfly Garden. I’m not sure I’d use this birdcage gazebo in any future garden stories, but I thought it was an interesting addition to the yard of a Victorian B&B.
Galena was the busiest steamboat port between St. Louis and St. Paul (the latter of which I learned used to be called Pig’s Eye, after a bootlegger! But I digress…) In the mid 1800s Galena boasted a much larger population than Chicago, and many believed at the time it would continue to be the largest city in Illinois. But with the advent of train travel, Chicago became the railroad hub and steamboat travel dwindled. Once lead mining faded as well, Galena seemed destined for desertion. It wasn’t until the 1960s that the town began protecting its many historic buildings in the town and in the 80s directed its efforts toward a resort attraction. It’s now the second most visited attraction in Illinois—after Chicago, of course.
I've been to Galena a couple of times, including an anniversary stay in a Bed and Breakfast. It's a great place to get lost in time!
It really is a fun place! When I was shopping in the old buildings, going in an out of thresholds that dated back more than a hundred years, I found it so easy to imagine what it might have been like for other shoppers all those years ago. Always a good experience for history lovers!