SP2M – Visiting Galena, IL

I woke up on Friday morning feeling great and mostly recovered from the previous day’s hills and the previous evening’s Caesar salad, pizza, beer, and chocolate (in that order, of course, because the rules of fine dining just cannot be broken). I had a lazy morning waiting for my cousin, Melanie, to drive down to Galena from her home in Madison. I had my first encounter with a pancake-making machine. I’d seen waffle makers, of course, but this was so novel that I needed to test it twice, solely for scientific purposes. The pancakes are kind of small and aren’t perfectly brown or round but they taste OK. If you find one of these machines at your hotel, by all means push the button. If nothing else, you will get a good 60 seconds of entertainment as the pancakes progress down their little conveyor belt.

Melanie wanted to see my bike, of course. She is a cyclist from way back and knows oceans more about bicycles and bike maintenance than I do. Hearing her general approval of my Masi Giramondo meant a lot to me. She was surprised that I was carrying a full-sized camera (Nikon Z 5 with the 24-200 lens, weighing 2.5 lbs.) and a full-sized Chromebook (Asus Chromebook Flip, weighing 3.1 lbs.) The Nikon was a must-have for me. My whole bike tour was largely about finding pictures. The Chromebook was a must-have, too, so that I could run Rawtherapee and do some blogging and have a backup of my photos. I did think hard about that gear but ultimately took it all along. The camera and the computer and the charger came to about six pounds, 10% of my total gear weight.

With the gear inspection complete, I shamelessly took advantage of Melanie’s car to run over to the Galena post office and pick up a package. Had she not been there, I would have had to bike up a 9% grade to get there. This was the first time that I had actually used USPS General Delivery and it worked perfectly. My son addressed my package simply,

Art Zemon
General Delivery
Galena, IL 61036

It arrived at the post office and was held there until I got to town. I walked in, showed my driver’s license to the clerk, and walked out with my package. My only bafflement was wondering where in the world David found that crazy pink envelope.

Errand complete, our first destination was the Dowling House, the oldest house in Galena. John Dowling built it when he arrived in Galena in 1826, from Ireland via Baltimore. The building itself is interesting, being the original structure. It has been in-use pretty much continuously for the last 200 years. Rooms have been added on but much is still original. The tour was a fascinating local history lesson.

John Dowling worked hard to bring his fellow countrymen to the new United States. When I started the tour, the year 1826 did not mean much to me. As our guide talked, I realized the huge ask that Dowling was making of the people back in Ireland. He was trying to get folks to uproot and come to a country that was only 50 years old. In most cases, this meant that the husband would leave his family behind, come to the United States and (if all went well) send for the rest of his family a few years later. All without the comforting communication of phone calls and email.

Dowling brought a lot to the community, including introducing pigtail bucket hooks to improve safety.

His son, Nicholas, built the multi-story brick store next door to the Dowling home in 1840. That building, too, is still standing and in-use. This door is stranded on the side of the building. Maybe it will have stairs again someday.

Nicholas died in 1860 and was buried in the Catholic cemetery on the southeast side of the river. His widow, ostensibly wanting to see his grave from her home in town on the northwest side of the river, erected about the largest monument I have ever seen. Most headstones contain some biographical data, at least the birth and death dates. This monument bears only Nicholas Dowling’s name. He must have been so famous that any intelligent person would not have needed any reminders of anything else.

After the Dowling House tour, Melanie and I drove over to the West Street Sculpture Park. This is John Martinson’s studio and personal outdoor exhibition. All I can say about it is: go find it and bring your whimsy. You’ll grin from ear to ear the whole time you are there. I mean, honestly, how can you not grin when greeted by WOW MOM at the park entrance?

Melanie and I took a selfie in front of a bicycle sculpture.

I was drawn to the details of some of the pieces.

I found a reminder of the lawnmower of my youth, back in Valparaiso, IN. I laughed out loud when I noticed that there is tall grass in front of the mower and short grass behind it.

And then Melanie and I ran across a second bike sculpture so, of course, that called for a second selfie.

As we were leaving, I saw John tending his lawn. We had a nice chat and I got a picture with him.

From there, we drove out to the Mississippi River boat ramp at the end of N. Ferry Landing Rd. All of the boats had been hauled to higher ground because of the flooding but we spent a bit of time walking around anyway.

Our next stop was Old Cemetery Park, which used to be the town cemetery back in the day. For the midwest, Galena is old so there are lots of headstones with dates way back to the early 1800s. Neither Melanie nor I are well versed in headstones so we are both surprised by this one which looks like it was made by someone with a new word processor back in the 1980s, when fonts and laser printers were new. Remember the days when, if you had six fonts then you should use them all on that party invitation? Maybe the guy who carved this headstone needed to show off his skills? Maybe it was a sign of prosperity to commission several fonts on your loved one’s headstone? (You can click on any of the photos in this post to see larger versions of the images.)

We had also never seen a headstone like this, with different names on each side. All we could guess is that this is a family plot and the graves are arranged around the stone, like spokes in a wheel.

We spent the rest of the afternoon eating and shopping. Two stores are standouts because they are single proprietorships and sell unique wares.

Paul Pendola handcrafts wooden cookware, especially spoons, and sells them at the Galena Spoon Co. As soon as I saw his round teardrop shape, I knew that I had to have one. It is exactly what I need for making my morning oatmeal and ever so much classier than the silicone spoon that I have been using.

Rick Pariser sells antique documents and fossils and other oddments from Rix Antiques on S. Main St., next door to the Fraternal Order of Eagles. I found this print of an English manor house from 1768 (which Candy and I will frame and hang in our home), an entire sermon “preach’d at St. Margaret’s Weftminfter, Auguft the 19th. 1708… by THO. KNAGGS M. A. Lecturer of St. Giles’s in the Fields, and Chaplain to the Right Honourable Fulk Lord Brook…. Printed and Sold… For the Benefit of the Poor. 1708.” (which I have given away), and several other gifts.

I spent the rest of my time in Galena doing laundry, sleeping, eating, and blogging. I trust I have taken enough of your time already so I will not further detain you with details of those mundane tasks.

To be continued….