First of all, Happy Birthday to Alan. Once again we are on a wonderful adventure for your birthday.
The three of us spent today exploring Ste. Genevieve. We started at the Ste. Genevieve Museum. There were several interesting exhibits about the history of the area. This picture is for you, Ethan, with your love of old cameras.

We then went next door to the Ste. Genevieve Catholic Church. It’s the third church at the same site, the first having been a log church that originally stood in the “old” Ste. Genevieve and which was moved when the town moved. It’s really quite lovely and serene inside.

Next we went a few blocks to the Ste. Genevieve Historic Memorial Cemetery. There are some very old graves there, many being original settlers.

There are several of the early homes open for touring. First we went to the Bolduc House, then to the house immediately next door, the Bolduc-LeMeilleur House. The Bolduc home was built around 1792 and the one next door in 1820.

We ate lunch in a converted firehouse and then went around the corner to visit the Felix Valle House. This was a merchant’s home and half the house was his store and the other half was his home.

The last home we toured was the Jacques Guibourd House which is a great example of a home built using the Norman truss sysem and also the poteaux-sur-sole method (posts on a sill), both of which were techniques imported from French Canada.

Since it had now been at least 2 hours since we had last eaten, we stopped at Sara’s Ice Cream where, from a genuine soda fountain manned by a genuine soda jerk, Alan had a chocolate phosphate, Chery had an ice cream cone, and I had a cherry phosphate.


Tonight for Alan’s birthday we went across the street to the Hotel Ste. Genevieve and had a very good dinner, although the quantity of food given to each of us goes a long way toward explaining the level of obesity in the US. It seems today was a day of old houses and lots of food! Tomorrow we are planning on taking the Modoc Ferry (flash your lights and the ferry will come get you) and journey north on the Illinois side of the River Road back to Edwardsville.