I spent a lot of time in Galena with my mother and aunt who had a friend who restored a house there. She did everything according to the way it would have been done originally, even if no one realized what she had done. A perfect example comes to mind, when we caught her putting an eggshell wash over the paint on the kitchen ceiling. This was Helen's house.
The town is built on the side of a hill, but you can cross the river at the bottom, and look across at the hill.
On the same side of the river is General Grant's Home. Once upon a time, we loaded the van with Cub Scouts, and took them to tour Grant's home for a historical experience. It was one of those memorable days-we set off the alarm in the house, and were stuck in a horrible snowstorm, for a long time, with a cramped van full of little boys! We made history that will never be forgotten! The house remains intact after all these years.
Here's a peak at Main Street as we cross the bridge and head out of town.
This time we stayed out of the old ice cream shop, which used to be my cousin's pharmacy and ice cream parlor. The old cabinets and tables are still in there. He was famous for his "homemade cough syrup"-it really took your cough away. However, the Feds came in, and the cough syrup suddenly disappeared. The locals were upset! (It just dawned on me that these are not the usual stories one would find in a travel magazine about Galena! I apologize if I put these stories on before-it's what we think about when we go there!)
