View photos from the December 2015 Home for the Holidays House Tour. We had about 300 visitors to Elsah on a lovely day, with many houses decorated and open for the tour. A horse and carriage transported visitors back in time and around the village. Live music welcomed folks to both churches, too.
Special thanks to PhotogBuddies for your excellent work.
Experience a simpler time in the quaint, historic Village of Elsah, Illinois. You’re invited to tour a dozen selected private residences decorated for the holidays. The whole village retains the character and feel of a bygone time. Many of the homes on the tour were constructed in the mid-19th century, often with the stone from the local quarry.
Musical entertainment will take place in both churches in the village.
Horse and carriage rides are available and included in the cost of the ticket.
In addition to the private homes on the tour, other points of interest in Elsah, which are open to all, are the Village Museum, Farley Music Hall, the Village Civic Center and historic school room, Maple Leaf Cottage Inn, Green Tree Inn, Elsah General Store, and Christian Science Reading Room.
One of the homes on the tour, the McNair House at 66 Mill Street, built in 1858, includes an original mural of Village of Elsah by renowned artist Glenn Felch, painted in 1973. Several other paintings of Elsah scenes and buildings by Felch will be offered for sale, with proceeds to Historic Elsah Foundation. Read the Saint Louis Post Dispatch article about 66 Mill Street, its current resident, and the mural by Glenn Felch.
House tour tickets may be purchased at Elsah General Store, Elsah Museum, Green Tree Inn, Maple Leaf Cottage Inn, and Alton Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau. Advanced and online ticket purchases may be picked up at the Civic Center at 51 Mill Street. Day-of-event tickets may also be purchased at the Civic Center.
Some maps for the Bluff Line Railroad schedule in the mid-1890s listed a number of communities between the cities of Alton and Grafton. One such community was Eminence. Now students at Principia College, under the direction of Professor Andrew Martin, have begun to investigate the fate of Eminence. What happened to this bluff side hamlet will be the topic of a special Hosmer-Williams Lecture Series at Farley’s Music Hall, Elsah, Illinois, Thursday, November 12, 2015 at 7:30 PM.
“Exactly where was Eminence, who lived there and why did they live there, and what happened to Eminence,” asks Tim Tomlinson, President of Historic Elsah Foundation and host for the Series. “How and why do such places disappear?”
Andrew Martin, an archaeologist whose students are looking at these questions, is excited about the opportunity to study and enhance local history. He says the village was “one of the first settlements in the area that was founded in 1828 on the bluffs next to Eliestoun. Eminence rose rather rapidly in importance when in 1831 Congress debated whether to direct a road that it wished to build across the United States through Eminence, which would have made Eminence the ‘New Chicago’ or Gateway to the West. Unfortunately (or fortunately for us) the debate floundered and Eminence was abandoned shortly afterwards. No-one has ever found the village. So a group of students in my archaeology class are investigating the archival records at Principia College, in Alton and at Jerseyville for clues, and in a few weeks time will be doing some survey work on the bluffs, around the area that some accounts suggest it lies. The talk by the students will outline the history of Eminence and the latest results from our investigation.”
The Series is underwritten by Liberty Bank of Godfrey, Illinois. The lecture is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served following the lecture. Reservations are not required. Parking is free and easily available.
For additional information, contact Tim Tomlinson, Historic Elsah Foundation, 618-374-1518, text a request to 618-513-7119,
or email a request to trt1933@aol.com. Download a flier here.
October 17, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Alton’s Lincoln-Douglas Square. Schedule details below.
A truly amazing reenactment experience, with the Great Rivers Lincoln Coffin reunited with the St. Louis Lincoln Funeral Hearse at this important Alton site. Look for details in a series of articles in the Alton Telegraph, a Telegraph insert on October 15, and other publicity outlets. Abraham Lincoln will be present, as will Mary Todd Lincoln. Frank Sands, Lincoln’s undertaker, will talk about the coffin; Benjamin St. James Fry, a Union chaplain, will talk about the hearse. Civil War period songs will be featured. This is a must-see.
Features: Great Rivers Lincoln Coffin, Abraham Lincoln Funeral Hearse, Lincoln Greatcoat, Flag raising ceremony with1865 American flag
Reenactors: Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln, Lincoln undertaker, Union Army chaplain, U. S. Senator Lyman Trumbull, Veteran Honor Guard
Music: folksinger Barry Cloyd as The Drummer Boy of Shiloh.
Schedule details from Alton Regional Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, and subject to change.
9:30 – 10 A.M.: Music
10:00 A.M.: Welcome – Tim Tomlinson
• Recognize dignitaries
• Alton Mayor Brant Walker Presentation
• Alton-Godfrey Rotary President Elizabeth Parker Presentation
• State Sen. Haine Presentation
10:15 A.M.: Coffin brought in to square by honor guard
• Flag removed from coffin
• Flag raised over Lincoln-Douglas Square
• Music: Hail to the Chief/Star Spangled Banner (Jerseyville H.S. Band?)
10:30 A.M.: Barry Cloyd opens program with musical memorial to Civil War
10:40 A.M.: Mary Todd Lincoln Reminisces
10:50 A.M.: Frank Sands, Lincoln Undertaker and Coffin Maker
11:00 A.M.: Benjamin St. James Fry, Chautauqua Society Founder, Civil War Chaplin
11:10 A.M.: Lyman Trumbull (U.S. Senator) Reminisces
11:20 A.M.: Barry Cloyd – Little Drummer Boy of Shiloh
11:30 A.M.: William Porter, Jerseyville train employee talks about working on the funeral train
11:40 A.M.: Edmund Beall Reminisces
11:50 A.M.: Lawson A. Parks founder/editor of Alton Daily Telegraph
12:00 (Noon): Abraham Lincoln
Intermission Entertainment: Barry Cloyd
12:45 P.M. Second Program Begins
12:45 P.M.: Barry Cloyd opens program
12:55 P.M.: Mary Todd Lincoln Reminisces
1:05 P.M.: Frank Sands, Lincoln’s Undertaker & Coffin Maker
1:15 P.M.: Benjamin St. James Fry, Chautauqua Society Founder, Civil War Chaplin
1:25 P.M.: Lyman Trumbull (U.S. Senator) Reminisces
1:35 P.M.: Barry Cloyd: Little Drummer Boy of Shiloh
1:45 P.M.: William Porter, Jerseyville train employee talks about working on the funeral train
1:55 P.M.: Edmund Beall Reminisces
2:05 P.M.: Lawson A. Parks, founder/editor of Alton Daily Telegraph
2:15 P.M .: Abraham Lincoln
2:45 P.M. Closing Ceremony (Flag lowered and placed over Lincoln Coffin)
More information from (and photo courtesy of) Alton Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau
Alastair Willis, currently in his fourth season as Music Director for the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, will be the featured speaker in the popular Hosmer-Williams Lecture Series at Farley Music Hall, Elsah, Illinois, Tuesday, September 29, 2015 at 7:30 PM.
In the past few seasons, the Grammy-nominated conductor has guest conducted orchestras around the world including the Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Mexico City Philharmonic, Orquestra Sinfonica de Rio de Janeiro, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonic, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, China National Orchestra (Beijing), and Silk Road Ensemble (with Yo-Yo Ma) among others. His recording of Ravel’s “L’Enfant et les Sortileges” with Nashville Symphony and Opera for Naxos was Grammy nominated for Best Classical Album in 2009.
The program will be a “conversation” format where Willis will talk with moderator Tim Tomlinson (Historic Elsah Foundation) and the audience, beginning with the Lincoln Funeral Commemoration concert. . “If I had to pick one highlight (which of course is impossible for me) it would be our final concert of the season” says Willis of the Illinois Symphony’s partnership with the 150th Lincoln Funeral Commemoration in Springfield last May. “The Springfield program was enriched by his commentary. He has a reputation for being witty and amusing. We’re still looking for a title for his talk–my preference is ‘Lincoln in iambic-pentameter.’ I know Alastair will be great at Farley” says moderator Tim Tomlinson.
Willis, who lives in Seattle, has a local connection–he was an international student for one year at Principia College.
The lecture is sponsored by Historic Elsah Foundation. The Series is underwritten by Liberty Bank of Godfrey, Illinois. The program is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served following the lecture. Reservations are not required. Parking is available.
For additional information, contact Tim Tomlinson, Historic Elsah Foundation, 618-374-1518, text a request to 618-513-7119, or email a request to trt1933@aol.com. And you may download a flier.
Photo(s) courtesy Todd Rosenberg Photography, available for downloading at www.alastairwillis.com/gallery.
