Rory, Stefanie, and John A. Logan Visit Antioch, IL

Rory, Stefanie, and John A. Logan left the Wham building late on a Thursday afternoon for a six hour car ride to Antioch Illinois. Once they got to Antioch, IL they were all very tired from the long car ride, so they decided to spend the night at Stefanie's parents house in Antioch. The following morning, they all drove to the Hiram Buttrick Sawmill. The sawmill that is currently standing is an exact replica of the original and was built in 1976. The original sawmill was built in 1839 by Hiram Buttrick. The original was one of the only structures to remain standing through the fires that occurred in in the late 1800's and early 1900's. The original sawmill was built along a creek in the center of Antioch to make it the center of commerce.

After a wonderful day in the small town of Antioch, they eventually made the long journey back to Carbondale. John A. Logan, Stefanie, and Rory traveled a total of 774 miles. All together, John A. Logan has traveled a total of 3,205.32 miles.

Sumer, Justin, Collin, and Robert E. Lee visit Cairo, IL

Sumer, Justin, Collin, and Robert E. Lee took a trip to Cairo, IL. They visited several places while they were there. Robert told them all about the time he was in a steamboat race and landed in Cairo. He told us it should have been a for sure win, but Natchez cheated. (We looked it up later and discovered Lee had been drinking a bit when he landed in Cairo and ran aground not long after leaving Cairo)
Once we were in Cairo, IL., we first visited the Magnolia Manor. The Manor was built in 1869. It is one of the few standing houses left in Cairo. The Manor was visited by Ulysses S. Grant when he was in command of the civil war fort, Fort Defiance. The Manor is open for tours.

Next, they visited the Riverlore. Riverlore was built in 1865. It is an 11 bedroom mansion that is also known as, Millionaire's Row. It was built for Captain William Parker Halliday. He was a bank owner.

The next stop was the Cairo public Library. Mrs. Alford B. Safford had the Safford Memorial Building turned into the library as a memorial to her husband. The library contains many artifacts from older building in Cairo, such as the chandelier from the Opera House.

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Their next stop was the Custom House. The United States Custom House was started in 1867 and has housed the U.S. Post Office, Customs, the Weather Bureau, the Federal Court Room, and the Cairo Police Department. Today the building is just a Museum. It holds, Civil War and local historical items, desk used by Gen. U.S. Grant, an 1865 Cairo fire wagon, a scale model of the gunboat U.S.S. Cairo, the historic hamburger/popcorn wagon. The house is open for tours.

Our last stop was to the Post Office which was built in 1942. The same post office is still used today.
Whew, what a trip! By the end, as you can tell from the pictures, baby Collin and Robert E. Lee were getting cranky! We traveled 121.36 miles. So far, Robert has traveled 2845.08 miles!!

Karli and John A. Logan travel to Peoria, IL

Karli and John A. Logan took the long way to Peoria, having to pick up others joining their journey in Olney and Springfield. When they finally reached Peoria, they had a long, wet and cold journey down to the Riverfront to the Military Services Memorial Plaza. The plaza was built to honor and recognize the veterans who have served in the military. The center plaque on the marker in the picture states "In Honor of the men and women who have served their country in the armed forces of the United States." The surrounding plaques recognize those who helped in the construction of the plaza in 1998. In front of this marker, not shown in the picture, is a flag surrounded by five services markers, one for each branch of the armed forces. After visiting the memorial, Karli and John A. Logan eventually headed home, traveling at total of 695 miles. This brings John A. Logan's total mileage to 2,431.32 miles.

Allison and Robert E. Lee Tour the Jefferson County Historical Museum

Allison and Robert E. Lee left 625 Wham Drive and went to Allison's house for the weekend. Allison, Robert E. Lee, and Allison's mom went to Mt. Vernon to the Jefferson County Historical Museum. Robert E. Lee loved the museum and got to see a surgical kit from the Civil War. The museum had artifacts from many times in history. It had a dentist chair and many artifacts from even before Robert E. Lee's time. The museum contained ballots for governor elections from the 1930s and dental tools. The nice man at the museum took out the surgical kit and took a picture with us. One of the facts that the man mentioned was that the kit did not include anesthesia. Robert E. Lee found this interesting, because this is something that was implemented after the Civil War. The injured people had to endure a great amount of pain when having wounds treated. Allison and Robert E. Lee traveled 193.4 miles for a grand total traveled of 2,723.72 miles. Allison hopes to return to the museum to learn more about history and the types of products used.

Robert E. Lee and Chelsea took a trip to the Historical Jail Museum in Benton, IL

Robert E. Lee and Chelsea took a trip to the Historical Jail Museum in Benton, IL. They traveled 100.9 miles round trip. There is an entire room dedicated to John A. Logan, Robert was not too fond of this part of the tour. There are occasionally re-enactments held at this location which are open to the public. There is also a lot of memorabilia from the Civil War including many things from the Benton area. A monument is located here that is dedicated to Logan and the 209 soldiers from Franklin County who lost their lives during the Civil War. Although, most of the Civil War history found at the jail museum was in honor of General John A. Logan, Robert and I had a great time. General Robert E. Lee has now traveled 1837.22 miles total!!

Danielle and John A. Logan go to Wilson's Creek National Battlefield!

Danielle and Major General John A. Logan took a long trip to Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield in Republic, Missouri. The Battle of Wilson’s Creek, named for the stream that flows through the area, was fought on August 10, 1861, and marked the first battle west of the Mississippi during the Civil War. During the five-hour struggle between the Union and Confederate forces, there were more than 17,000 troops involved and 2,539 killed and wounded.

Danielle and Major General John A. Logan traveled 637 miles together. Major General John A. Logan has traveled 1,736.32 miles in total!

Denise and Robert E. Lee Visit Marquette Park

Denise and Robert E. Lee visited Marquette Park in Chicago, Illinois that is down the street from Denise’s home. They traveled from Carbondale, Illionis (625 Wham Drive Carbondale Il. 62901) all the way to Chicago, Illinois (6734 S. Kedzie Ave., Chicago Il. 6062) in Denise’s car. Denise and Robert traveled a total of 325.49 miles together to and from the site making a total of 650.98 miles. Marquette Park is the largest park on the south west side of Chicago. This park that they visited is also know for being one of the places in Chicago that Martin Luther King protested in and marched in 1966. During this time this area was still and all-white hausing area. The protest held was part of the Chicago Freedom Movment. It was during this movement that Martin Luther King was struck with a rock.

During the 1930s this area of Chicago was primarily composed of Luthuanina culture. Therfore, there is a monument, that Denise and Robert visited, that was built to honor Luthuanian-American aviators Lithuanian-American aviators Steponas Darius and Stasys Girenas who perished during the transatlantic flight of the Lituniaca.