To celebrate the Independence Holiday, we drove with my sister to the St Charles Historic District. This city is the oldest European settlement on the Missouri River. Frontier Park next to the river is filled with people and carnival rides and good music.
We parked at a trail-head for the Katy Trail, the longest rail to trail system. It parallels the Missouri River and spans the state. We walked along the brick-paved Main Street. All the buildings are brick or wood-framed period structures, mostly in a French Colonial style. Surprisingly this historic street goes on for many blocks. City Fathers have done a great job preserving this heritage.
After a half mile of strolling and shopping we reached the First Missouri State Capitol State Historic Site and signed up for a tour. A wonderful docent gave us a great lesson on early Missouri history. Missouri was granted statehood along with Maine as part of the Missouri Compromise. The future Jefferson City was to be the Capitol; but an interim site was needed for five years. St Charles won the contest because it offered free meeting rooms above a general store.
Our guide then gave us a tour of these upper floor legislative rooms and governor's office. William Clark had been the appointed territorial governor but lost the first state election. We also learned that this French city got its name from the Anglicization of the local Catholic Church, San Carlos Borromeo. Interestingly my sister taught at the neighboring school for many years.
The tour continued in the general store on the first floor below. My hunter brother-in-law easily aced the fur identification quiz. Our informative ex-archaeological student guide was a font of information on the pre-industrial origin of arcane terms, like ‘sleep tight’, ‘don't let the bed bugs bite’ or our favorite, the dollar ‘buck’. That one likely came from the nominal exchange rate of one dollar per buckskin.
After the tour we had a delicious lunch on the third floor deck of the Lewis and Clark restaurant. It was followed by ice cream and more shopping.
I am rereading Undaunted Courage about the Lewis and Clark expedition so we walked over to the Boathouse to see a replica of their keel-boat. This riverfront was the spot where Lewis caught up with Clark and the crew and started their exploration of the Louisiana Purchase. Lewis had recently witnessed the official transfer ceremony in St. Louis. We walked to the center of Frontier Park to see their Monument. We like that Lewis’ big Newfoundland (Seaman) is also honored. We used the Katy Trail to return to our car.
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