Cahokia Mounds: Explore the Largest Prehistoric Indian Site in U.S.

Walking the trails through Cahokia Mounds, it’s hard to fathom that a thousand years ago the area was more populous than London at the time, that as many as 20,000 Native Americans belonging to the Mississippian culture thrived in a structured community here. Mounds that were used for burials or as bases for buildings still exist. Over 300,000 visitors come from all over the world each year to see the largest prehistoric Indian site north of Central Mexico, and it’s right here in the Midwest, in rural Illinois ten miles from St. Louis.

Start your visit with the orientation film at the Interpretive Center for an overview of the Mississippian culture. Learn about Monks Mound, the largest earthen mound in North America, covering 14 acres, the mound that at one time held a building 104 feet by 48 feet, the building from which the leader ruled and lived. A 40-50 acre rectangular plaza, surrounded by 17 mounds, was most likely used for games. Learn about the thatch-roofed homes the people lived in, the tools they used, and the crops they grew.

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Following the orientation film, browse the museum exhibits that include tools and weapons found in the area during archeological excavations.

Other exhibits and a diorama explain the archeological excavation process.

A large display depicts several scenes of Mississippians at work and play.

Outside, walk some of the ten miles of trails to view the plaza and mounds you learned about during the orientation.

A section of the stockade that surrounded the plaza has been reproduced.

Across the road (drive or walk there) climb the stairs to the top of Monks Mound. You can view much of the area from here.

You can also see clear across to St. Louis

Down the road is a reproduction of a sun calendar built of red cedar poles. The sun calendar, known as Woodhenge, was rebuilt four times during the time the Mississippians lived here. With each rebuild 12 more poles were added, with 72 poles in the final version.

No one knows what caused the abandonment of Cahokia Mounds. The population decline, which began in the 1200s, may have been caused by depletion of resources, disease or political disruption. As studies continue, we’ll learn more about what life was like for those who lived a thousand years before us in the Midwest.

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The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site Interpretive Center is located at 30 Ramey Street in Collinsville, Illinois. There is no admission fee, but suggested donations, along with Interpretive Center hours are listed on the web site.

Disclosure: My visit to the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site was hosted by the The Tourism Bureau Illinois South and the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, but any opinions expressed in this post are strictly mine. Accommodations were provided by Hampton Inn, Collinsville, Illinois.

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Peoria Riverfront Museum: Take Two

Connie Attractions & Events, Illinois May 29, 2014February 23, 2017Illinois attractions, museum peoria il, museums in peoria il, Peoria attractions, Peoria IL museum, peoria il points of interest, peoria il theaters, Peoria Illinois museum, peoria museum, peoria museum theater, Peoria Riverfront, Peoria Riverfront Museum, peoria riverfront museum theater, peoria theaters, riverfront museum, riverfront museum peoria, riverfront museum peoria il, riverfront peoria, riverfront peoria il, theater peoria il, things to do in peoria il 1 Comment

A few months ago I wrote about the Peoria Riverfront Museum. We had taken our granddaughter to the museum over the Thanksgiving holiday. I made a return trip there last month, arriving shortly after the museum opened on Sunday. Being one of the first guests of the day, and without time constraints and holiday crowds, I was able catch things I didn’t see the first time around. I also had a chance to try more of the interactive exhibits, including those in the popular IHSA Peak Performance gallery. Read more

Sipping Cider at Northern Natural Cider House, Traverse City MI

Connie Food & Drink, Michigan May 26, 2014November 22, 2015downtown Traverse City, Michigan wineries, Northern Natural Cider House, Traverse City MI, traverse city michigan, Traverse City restaurant, Traverse City wine, Traverse City winery, wineries in Michigan 0 Comment

I’ve had flights of wine and flights of craft beer, but never before had I had a flight of hard cider. In fact, the only hard cider I’d tasted is the big-named, bottled kind. So when I saw the variety of ten or so flavors available at the Northern Natural Cider House in downtown Traverse City, I wanted to try as many as I could without going overboard. My husband and I each ordered a flight of four, allowing us to taste eight different flavors.

Except for the Traditional Apple flavor, the ciders are mostly mixed with various fruits. Northern Natural uses only Michigan grown apples in their beverages, and most of the other fruits are locally grown, as well. All are organic.

Similar to wine, ciders are described as semi-sweet or semi-dry. The Orange Blossom is described as off-dry. My favorite tended to be the semi-sweets, as they usually are with wines. The fruit was very pronounced in some, like the cherry; with others, it was more subtle. I could smell the fruit in some more than I could taste it.

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Lavender Apple was the most unusual flavor I sampled. It smelled beautiful, like fresh lavender flowers. It’s a semi-dry, and the taste wasn’t one of my favorites, but it’s one of the most sought after ciders for its uniqueness.

The food at Northern Natural Cider House is locally sourced and organic, with a menu that changes seasonally. My Traverse City Salad (sans the gorgonzola cheese) with a cherry vinaigrette was tasty and just enough, and my husband enjoyed his meal, a turkey sandwich special of the day served with a pasta salad and chips.

Sandwich Northern Natural Cider House, located at 324 East Front Street, is a unique complement to the many wineries in Traverse City. Check the web site for hours and full menu.

Disclosure: My visit to Travers City was sponsored by Traverse City Tourism. However, our meal at Northern Natural Cider House was on our own, and any opinions expressed are strictly mine.

Captain Andy’s Parasail on the Mississippi

Connie Attractions & Events, Illinois May 23, 2014September 25, 2017Alton Illinois, Alton parasailing, Captain Andy's Parasail, Grafton IL, Grafton parasailing, Illinois attractions, Parasailing on the Mississippi 0 Comment

Temperatures were still warm, but autumn winds were beginning to blow. In many Midwest cities mid-October is late for parasailing. However, in Grafton, Illinois, 15 miles upriver from Alton, warmer weather hangs on a little longer. So when on my October visit I had the chance to go on the only parasailing adventure on the Mississippi River with Captain Andy’s Parasail, of course, I accepted. Read more

DeMoulin Museum, Greenville IL: Quirky and Shocking

Connie Attractions & Events, Illinois May 21, 2014DeMoulin Museum, historic national road, Illinois attractions, museums in Illinois, the national road 0 Comment

The world’s largest maker of band uniforms and choir robes didn’t start out in the garment business. The business was quite different in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Back then they made initiation devices for fraternal organizations, devices like a phone that sprayed water in the face of the user, a strength tester that paddled one’s bottom, and a trick chair that collapsed when sat in. Today you can see, and maybe become a victim of, some of these quirky and sometimes shocking devices at the DeMoulin Museum in Greenville, Illinois.

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Ed DeMoulin happened to be in the right place at the right time. A photographer in Greenville, Illinois, in the 1890s, DeMoulin liked to tinker with gadgets. William Northcott, another Greenville resident, was Head Consul of the Modern Woodmen of America, a fraternal organization. Looking for ways to increase membership in the MWA, Northcott approached DeMoulin for suggestions on making the fraternal organization more fun. DeMoulin, together with his two brothers, came up with the idea of the initiation devices, which they began producing.

The DeMoulins’ thirty patented devices were popular with fraternal organizations throughout America and were used until around 1930. The company continued to make furniture and fraternal regalia after that and eventually evolved into band uniforms. You’ll see some of those items in the museum, too, but the fun is in the initiation devices. John Goldsmith, curator of the museum, demonstrated some of the devices for us on our visit.

The spanker was one of the earlier inventions. The blindfolded fraternal candidate was swatted with the padded side of the spanker. When struck, a blank cartridge would go off, creating a loud noise.

“Riding a goat” was a popular initiation, and they ranged from being pulled around on a stuffed goat until eventually falling off to being strapped onto the Ferris Wheel Goat and being rolled head over heels.

As a candidate, you might be told you needed to be branded. Blindfolded (a common thread among most initiations), your arm would be touched with the “branding iron,” giving you an electric shock.

The trick chair would collapse as you sat in it, give you a shock and set off a blank cartridge.

You could be asked to pull on the handles of the strength testing machine, some of which squirted water in your face, and some that whacked you in the behind with a paddle, again with the bang of a blank cartridge.

If you had the knife board initiation, you’d see someone ready to throw knives before you were blindfolded and strapped to the board. Fake knives would pop out of the board near you, making you think the knives were being thrown.

John said the guillotine, which had safety mechanisms to stop short of touching the “victim” gets different reactions from adults and kids. Kids love it and want to lay in it for photo ops, whereas adults inch away from it.

Norma Goldsmith, John’s late mother, was the inspiration for the not-for-profit museum. A long-time DeMoulin employee, Norma had her own collection of memorabilia, the start of the museum artifacts. The museum continues its search for items to add to the collection. John says it isn’t uncommon to get a call from someone across the country who happens to have a DeMoulin device or other memorabilia. In fact, David Copperfield, the illusionist is an avid collector of the initiation devices, often compares notes with John, and has demonstrated some of them on late-night talk shows.

The DeMoulin Museum has been featured on TV shows, too, which comes as no surprise. The quirky initiation devices are a fascinating piece of fraternal organization history and just plain fun.

The DeMoulin Museum, located along the historic National Road at 110 W Main in Greenville, Illinois, is open Friday through Sunday from March through October and on Saturdays November through February. Check the web site for hours. Admission is by donation. Plan to spend about an hour there.

Disclosure: My visit to the DeMoulin Museum was hosted by The Tourism Bureau Illinois South and the DeMoulin Museum, but any opinions expressed in this post are strictly mine. Accommodations were provided by Hampton Inn, Collinsville, Illinois.

Pucker Up at an Oil and Vinegar Tasting Bar

Connie Food & Drink, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan May 19, 2014May 21, 2014Fort Wayne IN, Fort Wayne Indiana, Galena Illinois, oil and vinegar shops, Silver Moon Winery, Traverse City MI, traverse city michigan 2 Comments

Call me a Johnny-come-lately. Or maybe I’m not the foodie I thought I was. Apparently olive oil and balsamic vinegar tasting bars have become popular in the U.S. over the past several years, but I only recently discovered them.

Last year, wandering through the Galena River Wine & Cheese shop in Galena, Illinois, tasting cheese, crackers and preserves, I stumbled upon urns of flavored oils and vinegars with small cups alongside urging you to taste them. I thought it odd at the time, sipping olive oil and vinegar straight up. A few months later, at the Silver Moon Winery in Lanark, Illinois, I bought my first bottle of specialty vinegar—dark chocolate. (Are you surprised?) Winery co-owner Kathi Enzenbacher stocks several flavors of olive oils and balsamic vinegars, all available to taste, although as I recall, she had bread or other food items available to dip in them. Kathi provided recipes for each of the oils and vinegars, too.

Within the past two months I’ve been in two shops that don’t have an olive oil and balsamic vinegar tasting bar, they are olive oil and balsamic vinegar tasting bars, with over fifty urns of gourmet, flavored oils and vinegars, all available for tasting. The shops also offer ultra-premium olive oil, the most nutritious and flavorful, in various varieties, some mild and some robust.

The Olive Twist
The Olive Twist, in Fort Wayne, Indiana opened in October 2010, and has an additional shop in Auburn, Indiana. Co-owner Lori Berndt explained that olive oil has a shelf life of about a year from the time the fruit is crushed. The best olive oil is marked “extra virgin first cold pressed,” which means the oil wasn’t heated over a certain temperature, so it retains more nutrients and the fruit was crushed only one time. Once a flavor is added to the oil, it is no longer considered extra virgin.

Balsamic vinegar comes from Medena, Italy. Grapes are cooked down to a caramelized state and aged many years. The vinegar sold at The Olive Twist is typically aged 18 years. When flavor infused, the balsamic vinegar is mixed with fine red wine vinegar.

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The Olive Twist offers classes to the public or can provide private classes. Class rates range from $35 to $100, depending on the dishes.

Fustini’s
Traverse City was the first location of Fustini’s, who now has four other Michigan stores and one on Maui. I happened to be in Traverse City on the day they were celebrating their sixth anniversary. Besides regular oil and vinegar tastings, Chef Andy Stewart had prepared several appetizers and desserts using Fustini’s oils and vinegars. Fustini’s, owned by Jim Milligan, offers classes, too, from a demo class with four or five examples, to hands-on classes priced up to $59, but a $10 credit on a purchase.

Because olive oil has a relatively short shelf life, both The Olive Twist and Fustini’s clear product from their shelves regularly, so that when customers purchase oil, they have the maximum amount of time to use it. To keep olive oil from going rancid quickly, keep it in a cool, dry place, out of sunlight and corked or capped to minimize contact with oxygen. Both companies donate the oil they clear from their shelves to local food pantries, who because they use it in volume, will consume it before the end of its shelf life.

Once you purchase these deliciously flavored olive oils and vinegars, what do you do with them? Although they, of course, make great salad dressings, the possibilities don’t end there. They can be worked into dishes from appetizers to desserts and work well as marinades. Both companies’ web sites include many recipes. Experimenting is always fun, and to help you, pairing suggestions are listed on the urns. I purchased coconut balsamic vinegar and paired it with lime olive oil with the thought that it would make a great marinade for grilled shrimp. The dark chocolate balsamic that I bought I’m using for dessert with strawberries.

I no longer find it odd to taste the oils and vinegars straight up. In fact, I like it. Now that I’ve discovered these tasting bars, I’ve added another must-do to my list for whenever I’m visiting a new town—new town, new flavors.

Disclosure: My visits to the areas mentioned in this post were sponsored by the respective area tourism bureaus, but any opinions expressed are strictly mine.