Tampico, Illinois

One of the great things about having speaking engagements take me on the road (aside from meeting nice people) is that it gives me repeated opportunities to prove that there really is something to learn wherever you go. Last week, I was in Tampico, a small (population just over 700) farming community in west-central Illinois. I arrived early because I’d been offered a tour of the local historical society, which occupies a couple of historic buildings on Main St.

Of the two buildings, one is converted into a museum but the old bank next door has been restored to what it was like 100 years ago. However, it was the tenants in the apartment above the bank that has made the spot something of a destination. This is where Ronald Reagan was born. Both Ronald and his older brother were actually born in this bed.

Lots of history, both of the town and of the Reagans. One of my favorite stories, of the many I heard, was about Reagan working as a lifeguard. Living at this point in nearby Dixon, on the Rock River, a teen-aged Reagan looked impressive in his lifeguard uniform. He saved 77 people from drowning during his seven years of lifeguarding. But the tale that made me chuckle was that one girl was rescued three times. Can’t help but think she enjoyed being rescued by the future movie star.

So many other stories, plus the usual fun of visiting a restored building, with antique furniture an old ice box, old irons that one heated on the stove, and so much more, plus the equipment in the bank downstairs.

Here’s the website for the museum, with a few photos, additional history, and links to other area sites—plus info useful if visiting. https://www.tampicohistoricalsociety.com/R_Reagan_Birthplace_Museum.html

If you’re in the area, especially if you have an interest in Ronald Reagan, the museum is worth a visit. And should you visit Tampico, know that the restaurant across the street, The Break Room, is a dandy option, offering hearty but surprisingly imaginative food.

Family Farm

I keep reading articles about how the family farm is a thing of the past and people don’t care about the land anymore. I figure these articles must have been written by people who live in cities, because if you get out into the countryside, at least in the Midwest, you find that this simply isn’t true. In fact, in Illinois, 96 percent of all farms are family owned. That’s roughly 70,000 farms, many of them in the same family for generations. Some of the farms are larger these days, simply because far fewer people are interested in doing the hard work of farming. But being large doesn’t mean you can’t still be all-in-the-family. To “meet” some of these farm families, you can visit “We are the 96” on this site: https://watchusgrow.org/we-are-the-96/

If you go through the videos on my blog (see link under categories), you’ll find evidence of numerous family farms from several states—because Illinois is not alone in being very family-farm-centric. At least in the Midwest, this is the norm.

I recently wrote an article for Newcity Magazine about how to reconnect with the world of farming if you happen to live in Cook County Illinois. There are links to the places mentioned in the article, should you live in the area and want to follow up. But if you don’t live in the area, perhaps it will encourage you to search and find out what is near you. Because the myth of the vanishing family farm is just that—a myth—though it could happen if we keep ignoring them. Here’s the story: https://resto.newcity.com/2023/10/04/not-just-corn-and-soybeans-the-big-food-disconnect-and-how-to-fix-it/

So do what you can to find out who is farming where you live. See if there are options for learning more. Because the problem with having everyone believing the myth of the vanishing family farm is that it makes it all that much harder to hang on to those family farms.

North Woods —Looking back

I had reason today to think of a poem I wrote several years ago, and that led me to a folder of poems that reflect thoughts over the years. This one is about my love for the North Woods, that glorious wooded region in the northern part of the Midwest. In my case, it was the forests around Eagle River, Wisconsin. I know the time I spent there when younger had a profound effect on who I became as I got older. Without sharing all I learned during those wonderful summers, I’ll simply share this “love poem.”

North Woods

I think back to the summers of my youth,
When I would spend my nights beneath the trees.
The smell of earth and pine and last year’s leaves
Would fill my soul with peace.  The evening breeze

Would rise and run its fingers through my hair,
The cool, sweet, forest-scented air would wrap
Around me; now I wish it had not let
Me go. I listened to the water lap

The shore, the nighttime creatures prowl, the leaves
And branches overhead murmur and sigh
And dance across the face of heaven. All
These sounds, combined, became my lullaby.

At last, I’d sleep, when I could wake no more,
And, cradled by the forest, I would dream
Until first light. The lake, like glass at dawn,
And silver like the sunless sky, no seam

Or ripple on its perfect mirror, doubled
The forest. At the sun’s touch, mist would rise
And drift across water and wood alike,
All white, the semblance of a dream. The cries

Of morning’s birds would break into my thoughts,
And I would rise and slip into the lake,
Letting the cold, clean water clear my mind;
Exulting, racing, free, fully awake,

And fully part of that wild beauty that
Surrounded me. I’d watch the sunlight play
Across the water to the forest’s edge
Where green and shadow merged with dappled day.

It was so long ago. But not too long.
I have not changed so much. I can and will
Go back someday.  I must. I pray. I knew
Just what I wanted then. I want it still.

Mount Carroll, IL

The wonderful advantage to having speaking engagements all over Illinois is I get to see a lot of remarkably wonderful old towns (as well as, of course, the beautiful countryside). The downside is that I rarely get enough time to truly explore some of these delightful places. But I do see enough to be glad I visited—and learn enough to know that I need to eventually get back.

One example is a recent trip to Mount Carroll. This delightful, historic town, founded in the early 1800s, is a beautiful example of a small but prosperous, Midwestern town of the era, with a handsome business district, brick streets, elegant old homes, a nice history museum, and a downtown square with government buildings, monuments, and a Carnegie Library. I had the opportunity to walk around the square, gave my presentation in one of the old downtown buildings, and spent the night in a historic hotel, but I didn’t have time for the museum. That said, while I didn’t see everything, I was delighted by what I did see.

As is common across the upper Midwest, there is a Civil War monument in front of the County Courthouse. (If you don’t know how important this region was during that war, I recommend a visit to the Civil War Museum in Kenosha, WI—the upper Midwest supplied stunning numbers of volunteers and resources).

Across the street from the County Courthouse is the Bridgewater Inn, first opened in 1886, which is where I stayed. The necessary things have been updated, but every effort has been made to preserve the charm of that earlier time.

Happily, there is more to discover if I get back there. Also happily, if I don’t get back, I’m delighted with what I have seen. Traveling around the Midwest continues to support my belief that this is a delightful region.

Wheeling History Museum

In my book, Destination Heartland, I encourage people to visit smaller, local museums—places that include “Historical Society” or “Historical Museum” in the name. Often, these museums offer collections that hark back to things I remember from childhood: a ViewMaster, an old phone book, savings stamps. But even in very small museums, I always find something I’ve never seen before.

Today, I visited the Wheeling, IL, History Museum, and while there were numerous things that were familiar, either from life or from other museums, there were a couple of things I’d never seen before.

First and foremost was the Mignon typewriter. Created in 1902 in Berlin, this typewriter predates typewriters with keyboards. Below is a photo, but here is a link to some background, focused on a slightly later model than the one in the museum. This site also includes a link to a video that shows how the typewriter worked. Really remarkable.

Also, while I have seen a wide range of stoves over the years, especially old wood-burning varieties, here was one I hadn’t seen before. This one has a lid you can put down, to create more counter space—but the lid bears the warning “Extinguish fire before lowering lid.”

The little museum used to be the Village Hall, and as the center of all things legal, there is a jail cell inside. There are only three rooms, so you don’t need to allow a great deal of time. But that can be an advantage in busy lives. Nearby on the property, there is a lovely little barn and an old church that is now used as a community center.

So definitely get out there and check out local museums. To find one near you, just type the name of a town or county and the words “Historical Museum” or “Historical Society.” And after you discover a local museum, you may even consider joining. We need to keep these places alive.

Glenview Naval Air Station Museum

A couple of weeks ago, I sought out a place I’d learned about online but had never seen before: the Glenview Naval Air Station Museum. Hadn’t seen it before and almost didn’t find it while looking for it. Having spent years admiring the activity that occurred at the Glenview Naval Air Station, I had expected something more impressive, but what I found was a tiny cubbyhole that was all but hidden at the back of an otherwise unremarkable parking lot, next to Chuck’s Auto Repair. It seemed rather underwhelming, and almost insulting, for the once might military base.

However, I soon learned that, while it seems unprepossessing, it’s absolutely worth a visit—and maybe a little more attention than it has received. (Visitors are the life blood of every museum.) Because here, it’s the history that makes it big, not the building. A lone docent, Irving, long-retired airplane mechanic, was a wonderful combination of enthusiastic about the tale and indignant about how overlooked the museum has become, and shared an endless flow of stories. The tiny space wouldn’t take much time to study, but try to allow yourself at least an hour, as there is a wonderful 40-minute movie (narrated by Bill Kurtis) about the importance of Chicago and Lake Michigan during World War II. Because before there was Top Gun, there was Glenview Naval Air Station.

Lake Michigan, being virtually an inland sea, would become the training ground for the thousands of pilots —because where else could you train flyers to land on aircraft carriers without any chance of a German or Japanese submarine attack. (And in case you always wondered how Navy Pier got its name—now you know.) The film also covers salvage efforts to save the hundred planes that ended up at the bottom of the lake, where the ongoing threat is being consumed by zebra mussels. (Because there is no real museum here, the salvaged planes all end up in Kalamazoo, Pensacola, or D.C.) But the film was stunning to be reminded just how much of the nation’s military might passed through this area. Really remarkable. Also a fair number of interesting and worthwhile artifacts in the museum itself. Absolutely worth a visit. And if you know anyone with a few extra million dollars, they could certainly use a real museum. Open on Saturday and Sunday, 1-4.

https://www.facebook.com/Naval-Air-Station-Glenview-Museum-139960772688126/

And in case you can’t get to the museum but would still like to see the movie, it is available on DVD—and buying it helps fund the museum. https://www.heroesondeck.com/

The Pioneers by David McCullough

I know enough history and geography to have understood that settling the Midwest could not have been easy. However, reading David McCullough’s book The Pioneers, about the first settlers in Ohio, really brought home not only how hard it was but also how remarkable the people were who were involved in this endeavor. As noted on the book’s cover, it was this period that “brought the American Ideal West.” Even before the U.S. Constitution was finished, the plans for what would become the American Heartland had a document guaranteeing religious liberty and banning slavery.

The book introduces us to people few remember but who played almost unimaginably important roles in not simply expanding westward but in creating what the U.S. would become.

Granted, there were difficulties—not just those of trying to build homes in a dauntingly inhospitable wilderness, but also those of conflicts, from the cultural conflicts with Native Americans to Aaron Burr plotting to split the country. But the triumphs were greater—starting with the plan for the new territory.

The Northwest Territory—so called because it was north of the Ohio River (the only relatively easy way to travel west) and west of the original colonies—was ceded to the U.S. after the Revolution by the British, who had taken it from the French. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was the document that established that the creation of states was intended, but also set forth the three priorities of those who were working toward settlement of the area: freedom of religion, absolutely no slavery, and an emphasis on education for everyone.

The Northwest Ordinance would have a tremendous impact on the nation’s future. McCullough notes that it has been compared in importance to the Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence.

However, it is the individuals who make the story riveting. Heroes from the American Revolution, visionaries, builders, explorers, wives, children, doctors, traitors, troublemakers—a remarkable cast of characters populate this history. The hardships were numerous and included floods, plagues, earthquakes, economic depression, the War of 1812 (when the British thought they could retake “their” colonies), and the fact that the Little Ice Age (which ended in the mid-1800s) made winters snowier and colder than what we experience today.

A description of one of the key people in the successful settlement of what would become Marietta, Ohio, pretty well established what the pioneers were like—and why they succeeded. “Like so many born and raised on a New England farm in the eighteenth century and who served in the Revolutionary War, Rufus Putnam had known hard work and hardships, great sorrow and seemingly insurmountable obstacles most of his life. It was what was to be expected, just as one was expected to measure up.”

I could go on for much longer—so much to love and so much to learn. We are fortunate that most of these people kept diaries or wrote long letters (John and Abigail Adams were not alone in this tradition), leaving so many details. And we are fortunate that Mr. McCullough has gathered the stories into this book. As important as the Founding Fathers were, without a lot of other brave, visionary folks, the American ideal might never have made its way west.

If you have any love of history, I recommend this book to you.

Indian Mounds

Traveling around the Midwest, one encounters a surprising number of Indian Mounds—ancient earthworks created by people actually identified as Mound Builders. This is not a single group, but rather a cultural trend among early Native American people who, for various reasons, created a wide range of mounds, from the pyramid-like Monks Mound at Cahokia to a range of animal effigy mounds to simple hills to mark events or burial sites.

I had always thought it was really lucky that so many of these mounds still existed in the region. However, I’m currently reading David McCullough’s wonderful book, The Pioneers, and he makes it clear that it was not luck. It, in fact, reflects the remarkable foresight and wide education and interests of those who built the nation, and particularly those who established the first settlements in what would become the Midwest—at the end of the American Revolution, a region then known as the Northwest Territory.

McCullough’s immensely worthwhile book is not about the Mound Builders (they had vanished centuries and even millennia before Europeans ever caught sight of the Americas)—but it does give us insight into why so many mounds remain.

McCullough details the reactions of both those making the first foray into the land so recently won from the British and those back East to whom they reported. The leader of the first party of settlers, Rufus Putnam, made careful maps of what he called the “Ancient Works.” There was much excitement focused on these mounds and earthworks. When Thomas Jefferson heard of them, he expressed his enthusiasm for studying them further. Putnam, after careful study, wrote about how perfect the work was, and he set aside the land on which mounds were found as parks and areas of study, not open to settlement or alteration.

I guess it is not entirely surprising, given the tremendous insight people at the time had of what was worth building and what was worth saving—insight demonstrated in the Declaration of Independence and in new Constitution being developed at the time of this exploration. What a remarkable period of time—and what a blessing that they had the foresight to protect both our freedoms and the antiquities they encountered. Only half way through the book and so looking forward to the rest of it.

Memories and Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

I live in Illinois, where the state dessert is pumpkin pie. Thanksgiving is almost upon us. So I have two good reasons to talk about that tasty orange dessert.

As I child, I assumed my mom’s pumpkin pie was the only form of pumpkin pie. The first time I had a “normal” pie, the classic custard version. I thought that it somehow hadn’t turned out right. I figured my hosts must be horrified, but I had been raised to believe if you couldn’t say anything nice, you just smiled and said nothing. It wasn’t terrible, it just wasn’t right—though in time I learned that this “failed” pie was what most people expected. All these years, I had been eating something quite different, something more ethereal, and, in my opinion, more wonderful. I had been eating pumpkin chiffon pie. And as glorious as the light, airy pumpkin chiffon filling was, the crust was also remarkable—a rich, crisp, buttery crust made with crushed vanilla wafers.

I have since learned to enjoy the type of pumpkin pie I once thought to be failed, but as an adult, the first time I hosted Thanksgiving, I of course had to create mom’s pie. (And it’s still my favorite.) Happily, mom was more than pleased to pass along the details. And now, as mom, age 95, approaches her last Thanksgiving, I am pleased to share the details with you, to carry on her legacy of this delightful pie.

This makes one 9-inch pie.

Crust

1-1/2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs (roughly 35 vanilla wafers)

1/4 cup sugar

6 tablespoons melted butter

Combine the crumbs, sugar, and melted butter until well blended. Press into your pie tin, spreading evenly, though a tiny bit thicker where the sides turn upward from the pan bottom. Bake in a 350˚ oven for 10 minutes. Cool completely before adding filling.

Note: To make crumbs, you can either spin the cookies in your food processor or you can just put them in a large, sealable plastic bag and roll over them with a rolling pin until fine crumbs are formed.

Filling

1 tablespoon gelatin

1/4 cup cold water

3 eggs, separated

1 cup sugar, divided in half

1-1/4 cups canned or cooked pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp each cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger

Whipped cream as garnish

Put gelatin in cold water to soak. Set aside. Beat the 3 egg yolks slightly, then stir in 1/2-cup sugar, pumpkin, milk, salt, and spices. Place this mixture, over boiling water in the top of a double boiler, cooking and stirring until thick. Then add in the soaked gelatin stirring until dissolved. Remove from heat. Put in fridge to chill. When mixture begins to set, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Gradually stir in 1/2-cup sugar, and then fold beaten eggs whites into the pumpkin mixture. Fill the prepared crumb crust, and chill pie for several hours to set. Serve with whipped cream.

Note: Because this filling is not cooked, you will want to get fresh, high-quality eggs, or, if you’re concerned about eating raw eggs, you can look for pasteurized eggs.

New Book Ready for Pre-Order

Why pre-order a book? Right now, prices on everything are going up, but if you order the book now, the price is guaranteed. It’s available on all the usual sites (including Amazon and the publisher’s, U of IL Press).

This is a fun book filled with surprising tales and delightful destinations. I take you along as I explore a much-overlooked region, the American Midwest. Everyone from Wyatt Earp to Henry Ford is there. Don’t just read about history, but learn where you can explore more about Native Americans, the Pony Express, shipwrecks, the Underground Railroad, early pioneers, the Civil War, railroads, and a lot of stuff that will make you wonder why it got left out of your textbooks!!!

Don’t be scared by the price of the cloth-bound library version. That is for libraries. The general population version is paperback and only costs $19.95 — and the e-book is cheaper still. But you owe it to yourself to pursue this adventure. The Midwest and its past really are remarkable—and the present is pretty cool, too.

University of Illinois Press

Amazon

Hope you’ll join me for the adventure.

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