Fall Trip -2015(4)

(First, I need to make a correction on the last post. The land that Harriet Tubman purchased was sold to her by William Seward. I missed a word in that sentence in post #3.

I also wanted to start this post with a list of things we saw consistently in the countryside on this trip:

1. Beef cattle and fields of corn, soybean and some sorghum.

2. Eagles and Hawks. We saw hundreds of each including Swainsons, Red-tailed, and Marsh Hawks.

3. Grain elevators, large tractors and combines.

4. Small churches in every farming community.

5. Casey's General Store.

6. Lovely structures.

7. And much more water than we expected in Iowa, Missouri and Kansas. Wetlands, ponds and of course all the rivers and streams.

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Let's pick up where we left off with the Kansas sign.  We wanted to spend more time in Missouri to visit Hannibal, St. Louis, Jefferson City, and Kansas City, so we headed east.

We headed east to find the town of Hannibal, on the Mississippi. We wanted to visit Mark Twain's boyhood home and museum and learn about his life. He lived here from 1844 to 1853, nine years old till he was eighteen.  The visitor Center was sharing Ken Burns documentary about Twains life and we enjoyed this very much. This area became the inspiration for much of his best known writings including Tom Sawyer, and the great American novel, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

 

This tells a bit of the nature of the culture at this time, both locally and nationally.

There was no place to get my stamp, so I

    went to the post office and got this on the way out of town. On to St Louis and something we always wanted to see the Gateway Arch.  We couldn't believe our eyes when we first caught a glimpse of the tallest arch in the world 660 feet tall at the top.

Happily, they had good directions to get to where we needed to go.

The signs took us to the Historic Old Courthouse and the entry to the area.  After the shock of the sight of the amazing Arch, and we realized we were close to several critical historic events: the landing spot of Lewis and Clark, and the departure site for many slaves on the UGRR fleeing from the slave state Missouri to the free slave Illinois just across the river. What we didn't realize was that we were about to enter the courthouse and step into the room where Dred Scott sued the government for his freedom,

in 1848.  

Eventually, after ten years of appeals, this case ended at the US Supreme Court and the verdict declared that blacks could never be considered citizens of the US and therefore have no right to sue. This decision is considered to be one of the causes of the Civil War. After the decision was read by the court, a former master of Dred and Harriet Scott bought them and set them free.

                                       

 

                                    

The Gateway Arch celebrates the Jeffersion Memorial To Westward Expansion. We learned about the three major trails that contributed to this process: the California, the Mormon and the Oregon.

When we left St Louis we got on the "wrong" route and had to find our way along country roads through some of the most beautiful country we had seen. We were edging the Ozarks and driving through the Missouri Valley. Wonderful.

We landed at Jefferson City for a visit to the state capital and museum.

 As we viewed the exhibits we learned many things , but one story stuck. Two sisters helped each other to attend medical schools, one became a doctor and one a dentist. They started a practice and although many people were cautious about a woman Doctor they worked hard and took care of any who came to need their care. Eventually, they started a hospital in 1897 in Kansas 

City, known as Children's Mercy Hospital.  It is still functioning today and is famous for its paediatric care and service and of those who can not afford to pay for their care.

The next stop was a visit to a former student in Kansas City, MO. She is the same age as Phillip and Carrie and attended Acadia Christian Academy with them. She and her siblings were such an important part of our school and it was a real joy to see her, to catch up with stories of her family, and to share a meal together. We loved meeting her children as well.

The weather forecast was threatening so we decided to head toward our last state to explore.

Off we went to Walmart, Osawatomie, Kansas. The next day hoped to visit John Brown Museum.

More to come!